Starting smaller with FLIP
This is not the first time the two companies have worked together. Last August, Interlune announced that it would fly a multispectral camera on a smaller prototype rover being built by Astrolab. This camera will be used to estimate helium-3 quantities and concentration in Moon dirt, or regolith.
This FLIP rover, about the size of a go-kart, is due to launch later this year on a lunar lander built by Astrobotic. It will fly atop the Griffin lander, taking the place of NASA’s VIPER rover, which has been moved to another spacecraft.
The mission will therefore be a learning exercise for both Astrolab, in testing out its software and other features of a small lunar rover, as well as Interlune, which will seek to ground truth…