The first ever commercial rover to explore the surface of the moon is due to land on the lunar surface late on Thursday March 6th (US time) early Friday March 7th (GMT).
Live feeds of landing available here:
NASA:
https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/intuitive-machines-2-lunar-landing/
Intuitive Machines (who are operating the actual lander) are offering a live feed as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JRzfX1Oy0
The joint mission, involving Castrol, innovative space start-up Lunar Outpost and MIT Media Lab lifted off from Cape Canaveral on board SpaceX Falcon 9 on Wednesday February 26th. After an eight-day journey it will land on the lunar South Pole onboard the IM-2 lunar lander, named Athena.
The mission involves Lunar Outpost’s MAPP (Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform) Rover, the first ever commercial rover to land on the Moon and AstroAnt, the smallest ever robot to be involved in lunar exploration.
The MAPP Rover, will be the first Rover to reach the Lunar South Pole, make the first collection and sale of space resources in human history and also deploy the first cellular network on another planetary body.
As it explores the lunar landscape collecting soil samples and drilling into the moon’s surface it will deploy the tiny AstroAnt robot from its ‘garage’ on top of the rover. The same size as a toy car, AstroAnt will move around on top of the rover collecting thermal data and measurements.
AstroAnt has been designed to perform tasks in space by MIT Media Lab in collaboration with Castrol and if the lunar test proves successful it could pave the way for the use of swarms of AstroAnts capable of inspecting and diagnosing the status of future spacecraft, rovers and landers.
The lunar south pole region is regarded as a compelling place for future exploration missions and even a potential location for a future manned lunar outpost. These machine-driven missions are designed to pave the way for astronauts to return to the lunar surface, as NASA plans to do as soon as 2027.
MAPP Rover & AstroAnt have undergone extensive testing on a mocked up lunar surface as well as mountainous areas of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands where surface conditions and extensive lava tubes are one of the most moon-like surfaces found on earth. (included in B-Roll)
Through this collaboration, Castrol is providing advanced space-grade lubricants developed to withstand the extreme environment of the lunar surface. This ensures the AstroAnt robot’s motors continue to function as it sits on top of the Rover and collects thermal data and measurements.
Castrol has worked in the space industry for over seven decades on everything from the Apollo missions to the Space Shuttle programme and the International Space Station. Its unique space-grade lubricants keep space mechanisms moving in the most extreme vacuum environments, where failure is not an option.
WEBLINKS:
https://www.castrol.com/en/global/corporate/about-castrol/castrol-in-space.html
00:08 Prototype of MIT Media Lab’s AstroAnt sitting on top of Lunar Outpost’s MAPP Rover
00:15 MIT Media Lab scientist testing MAPP Rover (with AstroAnt on top) in volcanic terrain on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, where conditions are similar to the lunar surface
00:21 As above – MAPP Rover is remotely controlled by scientist
00:28 Rear view of MAPP Rover driving on similar surface conditions to the lunar surface.
00:38 AstroAnt moves around the surface of the MAPP Rover checking for temperature variations and any damage cause during its journey
00:44 GVs of volcanic region of Lanzarote, chosen for the field testing of MAPP Rover and AstroAnt
00:50 Close UP POV of the terrain surface in Lanzarote, believed to be close to the conditions the rover will encounter at the Lunar South pole
1:04 Drone footage of the lunar landscape style terrain in the volcanic regio of Lanzarote
1:10 Countdown and lift off of Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral (February 26th 2025) carrying Castrol/Lunar Outpost/MIT Media Lab lunar rover on board IM-2 Athena lander ) PLEASE CREDIT NASA ON SCREEN
1:43 View from camera on board Flacon 9 Rocket looking back down to earth as it lifts off ) PLEASE CREDIT NASA ON SCREEN
2:05 View of IM-2 Athena lander successfully separating from SpaceX Flacon 9 shortly after lift off (includes audio of mission control applause) PLEASE CREDIT NASA ON SCREEN
2:34 Split view of mission control and view of earth from IM-2 Athena lander ) PLEASE CREDIT NASA ON SCREEN
2: 55 Soundbite: Dr Cody Page, Director of Space Exploration Initiative, MIT Media
We also have the AstroAnt, a miniaturised robot that works in a swarm so we are going to have a whole bunch of these on top of our rover and it helps to make sure that our rover is safe and happy while it is moving along and deploying all of these other instruments. By taking data from the top of the rover so it can tell us if there is a micro meteoroid impact on our rover or if there is a hotspot, the sun has been sitting too high.
So Castrol has actually been collaborating with us on the AstroAnt research that is going to the moon, they have a space grade lubricant that is making sure that those itty bitty AstroAnt wheels are going to keep going in that really extreme environment on the lunar surface, And Castrol ahs also collaborated with the research that we are doing here in Lanzarote by bringing us here to this incredible lava tube and testing all of the components of what we are going to be doing on the lunar service.
4:00 Chris Lockett, Castrol Mission spokesperson
In space there are very different conditions to that that we see on earth, so you get incredibly low temperatures, there is also high vacuum conditions, exposure to cosmic and ultraviolet rays and there is potential contamination with fuel propellants etc. So our space grade lubricants enable it to work in that environment, which is pretty unique so they need to be high viscosity , low volatility and reduce very low levels of outgassing where the fluid can give off gas and those small amounts of gas vapours can condensate and impact the equipment that is operating is space and you need to eliminate that.
We have been active in space for over 60 years so we’ve got plenty of experience that we can bring to this collaboration. So we believe that taking what we have learned from the last 60 years; from the Apollo missions, with space shuttle, with the International Space Station and the three Mars rovers that we have been involved with NASA, and we clearly learned a lot from that and will apply that expertise to this collaboration.
