Space robotics maker Astrobotic Technology has unveiled its new 47,000-square-foot headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this week. The huge facility will serve as its lunar payload delivery services and mission control for upcoming NASA contracts, and I think they are missing. Huge Opportunity not to call it a lunar base.
So I’m going.
Astrobotic’s new lunar base will see the development of its lunar landers operated remotely from Peregrine and Griffin, both commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. It will also include the company’s office fees, laboratories and the manufacturing sector, including a “clean room” and a “high bay” for assembling spacecraft, and is “the world’s largest private facility dedicated to lunar logistics,” according to a company press release. .
Astrobotic has won more than a dozen commercial contracts worldwide for its lunar distribution services. In May 2019, he won a .5 79.5 million deal With NASA to deliver payloads of scientific equipment to the moon on Peregrine. Currently its mission Scheduled for July 2021, Peregrine is set to build The first American lander on the moon after the Apollo mission. In June, Astrobotic struck another lucrative deal: a .5 199.5 million contract To ferry NASA’s Viper Rover in search of water Near the moon’s south pole in 2023.
“You [Astrobotic] We are currently leading the market with seventeen agreements for your first mission with customers from seven countries, ”Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. “The Department of Commerce will continue to make resources available to you and to the wider commercial space industry in the U.S. to ensure that we remain at the forefront of space commerce.”
G / O media can get commission
During their time on the lunar surface, Peregrine and Griffin will operate from the Pittsburgh headquarters of Astrobotic. The lunar base will also build the company’s “line of landers, rovers, autonomous spacecraft exploration systems and other space technologies.”
At Tuesday’s ceremony, Astrobatic CEO John Thunten said the company has seen explosive growth over the past 18 months and its new, top-of-the-line facility is a sign of its recent success.
“[W]The E18’s staff grew to more than 100 personnel, including two funded lander missions and a rover mission to the moon, and a number of agreements to develop exciting new space technologies. “It’s still surreal.”
Looking ahead, Astrobotic said construction is currently underway to expand the facility by adding an additional area for rover test peat, drone flying arena and office fees, labs and manufacturing. Hopefully, they will also consider naming it an attractive lunar-themed name. Spoiled the punk of so many good moons!
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