Tuesday, May 20, 2014

NASA Unveils Three Possible Future Moon Landers

Astrobotic's Griffin Lander


Recently, NASA had asked private industry to present concepts of a future Moon lander. NASA has revealed that three of  the landers have been chosen for further consideration.  The three companies that made the cut were: Astrobotic Technology Inc's Griffin lander, Masten Space Systems Inc's XEUS lander  and Moon Express Inc's MX-1 Lander.  These three companies concept landers will move on to the "Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown  initiative" or the "Lunar CATALYST".

NASA is not providing any funding, however  the agency is prepared to offer assistance in technical matters, access to test facilities, equipment loans and software for three years.

  • Both Astrobotic and Moon Express are competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize awarded to a private team that can land and perform activities on the surface of the moon by Dec. 31, 2015.


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