FLIP

Program pages Astrolab: FLIP Rover Astrobotic: Astrolab's FLIP rover joins Astrobotic's Griffin-1 to the Moon

Overview

FLIP is a technology demonstration rover built by Astrolab and manifested as the primary payload on Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One to the Nobile region of the lunar south pole [1], [2]. It is not a scaled model. It carries full-sized versions of the components intended for FLEX, Astrolab’s much larger commercial rover: the batteries, the tires, the avionics, the sensors and the software, so that each is exercised at flight scale in the environment FLEX will work in.

The relationship to FLEX is the point of the vehicle. FLEX is a 950 kg class rover with a 2000 kg payload capacity intended for delivery by Starship; FLIP is roughly half a tonne with a 30 kg payload capacity, sized to be compatible with the medium-class commercial landers already entering service [1], [2]. Astrolab’s stated purpose for it is to demonstrate and test the critical technologies that advance the commercial FLEX vehicle rather than to perform an independent mission.

Specifications

Parameter	Value	Source
Mass	nearly half a metric ton	[2]
Payload capacity	30 kg
Wheels	hyper-deformable airless tires from Venturi Space	[1], [2]
Battery enclosure	custom design by Venturi Space	[1]
Lander compatibility	medium-class commercial lunar landers	[2]

Dimensions, drive speed, slope limit, obstacle capability, generation capacity, battery capacity, night survival, processor and communications parameters are not published. Astrolab publishes no technical documentation for this vehicle beyond its press material, and no peer-reviewed or conference publication about it has appeared.

Mission profile

Parameter	Value	Source
Lander	Astrobotic Griffin	[2]
Landing site	Nobile region, lunar south pole
Delivery	announced for end of 2025, subsequently stated as summer 2026	[1], [2]

FLIP took the primary payload position on Griffin Mission One after the flight’s original assignment changed [2].

Mobility

Four wheels carrying hyper-deformable airless tires supplied by Venturi Space, the same wheel design used on FLEX [1], [2]. No speed, gradeability, obstacle height, ground pressure or terramechanics result is published for FLIP, and no wheel test data has been released.

Dust sealing of the wheel actuators is named as one of the things the mission is there to test, which places it among the open questions rather than among the solved ones [1].

Power and energy

Solar generation with batteries supplied by Venturi Space in a custom enclosure of Venturi’s design, at the same physical size as those intended for FLEX [1], [2]. Generation capacity, battery capacity, night survival and duty cycle are not published.

Thermal

Protective coatings for the solar array and the radiator are among the technologies the mission is to test, and performance in south polar temperatures is named as an objective [1]. No temperature limits, heater strategy or radiator area is published.

Compute and avionics

Described only as critical avionics systems carried at full size [2]. No processor, memory or radiation tolerance approach is published.

Autonomy

Not published.

Communications

Not published.

Payload and instruments

The rover carries a 30 kg payload allocation, and Astrolab states that it will use part of it for investigations into mitigating the risk lunar dust poses to vehicles, structures and spacecraft systems [2]. No instrument has been named.

Modes of operation

Not published.

Ground operations

Not published.

Technologies developed

The program’s contribution is the pathfinder itself: a deliberately intermediate vehicle whose purpose is to fly the flight-sized subsystems of a larger rover on a lander that already exists, rather than waiting for the launch vehicle the larger rover needs [1], [2]. The subsystems being proven that way are the batteries and their enclosure, the hyper-deformable airless tires, the avionics, the sensors and the software, the protective coatings on the solar array and radiator, and the dust sealing of the wheel actuators.

Nothing has been demonstrated yet, and nothing about the vehicle has been published in a form that carries a measurement.

References

NASA. (2020). Cross-Program Design Specification for Natural Environments (DSNE), Revision G. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Source

BibTeX

@techreport{nasa2019cross,
  title = {Cross-Program Design Specification for Natural Environments (DSNE), Revision G},
  author = {NASA},
  year = {2020},
  institution = {NASA Marshall Space Flight Center},
  url = {https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20200000867}
}

Grant H. Heiken, David T. Vaniman and Bevan M. French. (1991). Lunar Sourcebook: A User's Guide to the Moon. Cambridge University Press. Source

BibTeX

@book{heiken1991lunar,
  title = {Lunar Sourcebook: A User's Guide to the Moon},
  author = {Grant H. Heiken and David T. Vaniman and Bevan M. French},
  year = {1991},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  url = {https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/lunar_sourcebook/pdf/LunarSourceBook.pdf}
}