A $34.6 million award from NASA is going to be used by Astrobotic Technology Inc. to demonstrate the transmission of high-voltage electricity on the surface of the moon for the first time.
The North Side-based company announced it received the funding as part of its NASA Tipping Point partnership. As part of the partnership, Astrobotic will create the LunaGrid-Lite product based on the company's LunaGrid platform, which is looking to equip lunar-based operations with a permanent power source via solar panels and other systems deployed on the moon.
Astrobotic plans to use its CubeRover product to unreel a 1-kilometer-long cable from an Astrobotic lunar lander during a future moon mission projected by 2026 or later that will then showcase the capability of transmitting high-voltage electricity on the moon's surface. The lander will then supply the rover with a tethered source of electricity, serving as the pilot for Astrobotic's commercial power-supplying capability based on the LunaGrid platform.
"LunaGrid-Lite will pave the way for power generation and distribution services on the moon, and change the game for lunar surface systems like landers, rovers, habitats, science suits and in-situ resource utilization pilot plants," John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, said in a prepared statement. "With renewable, uninterrupted commercial power service, both crewed and robotic operations can be made sustainable for long-term operations."
Furthermore, Astrobotic said it envisions this power service as being operational for NASA's Artemis and Commercial Lunar Payload Services programs as well as for international space agencies and commercial businesses operating on the moon before the end of the decade.
Astrobotic first unveiled its LunaGrid platform in September 2022. The company is vying to send its first lunar lander, Peregrine, to the moon by the end of 2023.
