A swarm of 4-inch rovers will soon explore the moon's surface

When Pittsburgh-based space robotics company Astrobotic Technologies launches its lander atop a new rocket, it will try to be the first commercial company to land on the moon.

To add more risk to an already risky undertaking, Astrobotic's mission will blast off on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket — its maiden voyage — from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch is expected no earlier than Jan. 8, with touchdown of the company's Peregrine lander on the near side of the moon on Feb. 23.

NASA tapped Astrobotic as one of several vendors for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to explore the moon over the next few years. The program has recruited the private sector to help deliver cargo, conduct experiments, and demonstrate new technology, as well as send back crucial data. Through these contracts, the U.S. space agency wants to establish a regular cadence of moon missions to prepare for sending Artemis astronauts to the moon.

Astrobotic is set to be the first of those vendors to make the 250,000-mile trek from Earth to the moon. But NASA is just one space agency hitching a ride with the Astrobotic mission. The spacecraft will carry 15 payloads for six other nations: the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Japan, the Seychelles Islands, and Mexico.

"Many people don't even realize that Mexico has a space agency," John Thornton, Astrobotic's CEO, told Mashable. "And now they will be the fifth nation to land on the surface of the moon after India."

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Colmena, which means "hive" in Spanish, is the Agencia Espacial Mexicana's mission that will send five teensy rovers — each about four inches long and weighing a couple of ounces — to the moon. A small catapult will launch this fleet of micro robots onto the lunar surface that will then band together autonomously to study the lunar soil.

Robotic explorers and even astronauts are usually kicking up and driving through the soil's dust grains, charged with electrostatic energy from the sun's ultraviolet rays. But for the tiny two-wheeled rovers that stand less than an inch tall, they'll be completely immersed in the moondust clouds. The study will focus on whether the dust can be used to make oxygen and other resources.

Colmena, the first Latin American scientific instruments to fly to the moon, is a partnership with the LINX laboratory at the Autonomous University of Mexico's Institute of Nuclear Sciences.

Colmena, the first Latin American scientific instrument to fly to the moon, is a partnership with the LINX laboratory at the UNAM Institute of Nuclear Sciences. Credit: Gustavo Medina Tanco / LINX / UNAM Institute of Nuclear Sciences

Astrobotic has five NASA payloads on the spacecraft, including instruments that will collect data on the lunar atmosphere, chemicals on the lunar surface, and the radiation environment.

Several nations and private companies have recently set their sights on the moon, particularly its south pole because scientists believe ice is buried in permanently shadowed craters there. The natural resource is coveted because it could supply drinking water, oxygen, and rocket fuel for future missions, ushering a new era in spaceflight.

This August, India joined the former Soviet Union, United States, and China as the fourth country to reach the lunar surface intact with its Chandrayaan-3 mission. The accomplishment followed mere days after the Russian space agency accidentally crashed its Luna-25 robotic spacecraft before attempting the same feat.

The landing site is a mare – an ancient hardened lava flow — known as Sinus Viscositatis, which means "Bay of Stickiness," near the Gruithuisen Domes. Credit: NASA

About 60 years have passed since the first uncrewed moon landings, but touching down remains onerous, with less than half of all missions succeeding. The moon's atmosphere is very thin, providing virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot.

The Peregrine lander, named after the world's fastest bird, will arrive at the moon within a few days after liftoff and remain in orbit until the local lighting conditions allow the lander to touch down at sunrise. The landing site is a mare – an ancient hardened lava flow — known as Sinus Viscositatis, which means "Bay of Stickiness," near the Gruithuisen Domes.

"Here we are, a small startup in Pittsburgh, trying to do what these big guys have done before," Thornton said. "As a nation and as a people, we need to make sure that we don't overreact to any failures in these early CLPS missions. There have been 10 missions awarded to go to the surface of the moon in just the last four years or so, so this is just the very beginning."

The Peregrine lander, named after the world's fastest bird, will arrive at the moon within a few days after liftoff and remain in orbit until the local lighting conditions allow the lander to touch down. Credit: Astrobotic

Other companies have tried and failed. An Israeli venture collaborated in 2019 on the Beresheet mission, which crashed on the lunar surface after an orientation component failed. Just this April, Japanese startup ispace ran out of fuel on its descent during the Hakuto-R mission and ultimately crashed.

If Astrobotic succeeds, the mission will last for only 10 Earth days before the instruments will likely die. At that point, the moon will experience nightfall and temperatures will plummet to liquid nitrogen levels — cold enough to break soldered joints and kill batteries. Despite 16 years of Thornton's career leading up to a less-than-two-week stint, he doesn't think he'll grieve the inevitable death of the vehicle and instruments.

"For me, that'll mean that that mission will be forever enshrined in history," he said.