SpaceX's Starship Gets Its First Commercial Contract to Moon's Surface (nytimes.com) 16
"SpaceX has its first commercial cargo contract to the lunar surface," says Jaret Matthews, the founder of the tiny startup Astrolab which makes a moon rover the size of a Jeep Wrangler. The New York Times reports:
On Friday, Astrolab announced that it had signed an agreement with SpaceX for its Flexible Logistics and Exploration Rover, or FLEX, to be a payload on an uncrewed Starship cargo mission that is to take off as early as mid-2026...." SpaceX, which did not respond to requests for comment, has yet to announce that it is planning this commercial Starship mission to the moon's surface, headed to the south polar region. Astrolab would be just one of the customers sharing the voluminous cargo compartment of the Starship flight, Mr. Matthews said.
Mr. Matthews, an engineer who previously worked at SpaceX and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, founded Astrolab less than four years ago. Located a stone's throw from SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., it has about 20 full-time employees, he said.... Mr. Matthews declined to say how much it would cost to get FLEX to the moon or how much money Astrolab has raised. He said Astrolab would make money by lifting and deploying cargo for customers on the lunar surface. That could include scientific instruments. In the future, the rover could help build lunar infrastructure. "Essentially providing what I like to call last-mile mobility on the moon," Mr. Matthews said. "You can kind of think of it like being U.P.S. for the moon. And in this analogy, Starship is the container ship crossing the ocean, and we're the local distribution solution...."
Mr. Matthews said Astrolab already had several signed agreements for payloads. That appears to be part of the expanding potential market for [SpaceX's] Starship.... For NASA, Starship is how its astronauts will land on the moon during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2025. Before that, SpaceX is to conduct an uncrewed flight to demonstrate the capability of spacecraft to get to the moon and set down there in one piece. If those schedules hold, the commercial cargo mission with the Astrolab rover could take place the next year....
Farther into the future, the company has even grander visions. "Ultimately our goal is to have a fleet of rovers both on the moon and Mars," Mr. Matthews said. "And I really think I see these vehicles as the catalysts ultimately for the off-Earth economy."
Mr. Matthews, an engineer who previously worked at SpaceX and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, founded Astrolab less than four years ago. Located a stone's throw from SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., it has about 20 full-time employees, he said.... Mr. Matthews declined to say how much it would cost to get FLEX to the moon or how much money Astrolab has raised. He said Astrolab would make money by lifting and deploying cargo for customers on the lunar surface. That could include scientific instruments. In the future, the rover could help build lunar infrastructure. "Essentially providing what I like to call last-mile mobility on the moon," Mr. Matthews said. "You can kind of think of it like being U.P.S. for the moon. And in this analogy, Starship is the container ship crossing the ocean, and we're the local distribution solution...."
Mr. Matthews said Astrolab already had several signed agreements for payloads. That appears to be part of the expanding potential market for [SpaceX's] Starship.... For NASA, Starship is how its astronauts will land on the moon during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2025. Before that, SpaceX is to conduct an uncrewed flight to demonstrate the capability of spacecraft to get to the moon and set down there in one piece. If those schedules hold, the commercial cargo mission with the Astrolab rover could take place the next year....
Farther into the future, the company has even grander visions. "Ultimately our goal is to have a fleet of rovers both on the moon and Mars," Mr. Matthews said. "And I really think I see these vehicles as the catalysts ultimately for the off-Earth economy."
Cars in Space (Score:3)
Oumuamua? (Score:3)
Being a cargo service can be lucrative. And as we colonize space we will need people to bring us our cars.
Musk/SpaceX famously shot his car into deep space (being: not orbiting Earth).
I was just wondering: could SpaceX launch something that would catch up to Oumuamua and send back pictures?
We have a bunch of dev-systems on Earth left over from prior missions, such as Martian rovers. Take a version 0.9 development rover, the recent one with the laser spectrometer and cameras and such, put it on a rocket, and fly it in a long-term mission to catch up with the asteroid and do some measurements.
Is this feasible? I
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I was just wondering: could SpaceX launch something that would catch up to Oumuamua and send back pictures?
Hmm maybe FH but IMO not landing the first stage after. I'm also not a rocket scientist.
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As a matter of fact, a couple of months after Oumuamua appeared, the NRO commandeered a SpaceX launch slot. SpaceX said the launch was "nominal", nobody could see the satellite after the launch and everybody assumed that it was lost, or an observation platform with designed in stealth technology
However it could be that they were looking in the wrong place and it was headed out to follow Oumuamua.
The payload was called Zuma
The U.S. government has not publicly stated if there was a failure of Zuma, and this s
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SpaceX is supposed to have a man-rated version of this ready for 2026, when NASA plans to land the next astronauts on the Moon. Difficult to see how they can make that deadline at their current pace, but you never know.
They first need to get Starship to orbit. No need to land it on Earth, although that is the plan to keep costs down. NASA will be using other craft to get to and from the Moon, they only need SpaceX to land them and bring them back up from Moon orbit.
Once SpaceX get to orbit, getting to the m
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They first need to get Starship to orbit.
Probably sooner than you think.
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"Being a cargo service can be lucrative. And as we colonize space we will need people to bring us our cars."
Leisure Suit Larry is ready for the challenge, working at a space fuel station where he must refuel spaceships while avoiding obstacles and hazards while playing "Shake-a-Chick" .
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woke.
aware of social problems.
but consider.
a jeep wrangler on the moon.
would be priceless
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wait.
hold my refer.
hippies.
were making statements in the 1960s.
we are now living their words.
even people that own a r 15s.
home depot sells ceramics exported from hanoi.
it is ok.
you are doing fine
Coalmine cart in space? (Score:2)
Definitly not for looks. The FLEX vehiclule resembles coalmine cart?
https://www.businesswire.com/n... [businesswire.com]
I hope they succeed (Score:2)
It has become abundantly clear that the government run space programs are either unable or unwilling to advance space access. Unfortunately it will probably take private companies basically shaming them by doing it better and cheaper to drag them into the future. SLS is a perfect example, I think they're up to $4.5 BILLION per launch now, for something that is almost completely expendable. I'm sure that they will stumble here and there along the way, but it's likely to be nothing compared to taking decade