MoonRanger¶
Blue Ghost Mission 4 · manifested · NASA payload
A suitcase-sized, solar-powered microrover that drives itself between waypoints, beyond radio range of the lander, and comes back to relay its data. Two stereo camera pairs and an Nvidia processor build a terrain model and plan its path as it moves; a sun compass helps it navigate. It carries NASA Ames' Neutron Spectrometer System to look for hydrogen, a sign of water ice, down to about 1 m. It is built for one lunar day and does not survive the night.
PI: Andrew Horchler (Astrobotic), PI since NASA's 2019 selection. At CMU, Red Whittaker led development, with David Wettergreen (co-investigator) and Heather Jones.
Built by: Astrobotic (prime contractor) and Carnegie Mellon University (design and construction, mission control), with NASA Ames Research Center (Neutron Spectrometer System) (company)
| Technology | autonomous microrover with a neutron spectrometer (surface mobility and autonomy demonstration; hydrogen prospecting) |
| Moon Base need | #0805, #0804, DN-007 L, DN-013 L (The study's reading; NASA ties MoonRanger to no gap or data gap by ID. NASA's CS-6 page names two aims: autonomous navigation, and hydrogen in permanently shadowed regions. The first fits #0805 (autonomous surface mobility over unmapped terrain, despite communication delays); the Users Guide does not cite #0805. Driving into cold, shadowed terrain touches #0804, which the guide cites under long-duration operations; MoonRanger carries no heater for the night, so the fit is partial. The neutron spectrometer measures hydrogen to about 1 m, the subject of DN-007 L and DN-013 L; one rover on one lunar day gives a single traverse, not the spacing DN-007 L asks for. A 2029 landing sits on the phase boundary (web: Phase 1 'Now–2029', Phase 2 '2029–2032'; Ignition deck 2: Phase 1 'Now through 2028'); the study reads it as Phase 2.) |
| Route onto CLPS | LSITP; Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads: one of 12 investigations NASA selected on 1 July 2019 (Astrobotic with CMU; $5.6 million announced). In spring 2020 NASA added its Neutron Spectrometer System so the rover could look for ice. NASA first manifested MoonRanger on Masten Space Systems' XL-1 (task order awarded 8 April 2020, eight payloads, a 2022 South Pole landing). Masten filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 and its CLPS mission was cancelled (Wikipedia). NASA then assigned MoonRanger to Firefly's task order CS-6 (Blue Ghost Mission 4, awarded 29 July 2025).; 2019-07-01 (LSITP); 2025-07-29 (CS-6 award to Firefly) |
| Timeline | first funding 2019-07-01 (LSITP selection; contract 80MSFC20C0008 signed 2019-11-19); first flight test not in public sources; selected 2019-07-01 (LSITP); manifested on Masten's XL-1 from 2020-04-08 (cancelled after Masten's 2022 bankruptcy); on Blue Ghost Mission 4 from 2025-07-29; launch no earlier than 2029 (Firefly); rover delivery to Firefly planned for July 2027; landing 2029 (NASA, target) |
| On the Moon | not yet flown |
| FO | company-level |
Flights before the Moon¶
- Earth orbit or deep space: Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One: a sibling Neutron Spectrometer System unit (not MoonRanger's), 2024-01-08 (launch); did not land. The same NSS design, in cislunar space during a solar particle event: 12.5 hours of data against a planned 2-hour checkout. The team built real-time correction tools and space-weather procedures that it carries forward to MoonRanger. A 2023 NSS poster lists separate units for Peregrine and for MoonRanger.
"The Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) on Peregrine successfully returned 12.5 hours of data from cislunar space."
— NTRS 20260003452, page 20 (LSSW 2026 slides)"NSS Ops during Peregrine feed forward to VIPER, MoonRanger, LUPEX science"
— NTRS 20260003452, page 19"at least three flight units of the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) will be sent to the lunar surface"
— NTRS 20230003089, poster, 2023 (units labelled ETU-3, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission-1, and Carnegie Mellon University's MoonRanger microrover)
- Earth orbit or deep space: Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One: CMU's Iris rover (a different, 2 kg rover by the same CMU group), 2024-01-08 (launch); did not land. Not MoonRanger. Iris could not be deployed, but was powered on in space, linked to Earth through the lander and NASA's Deep Space Network, and survived launch and the Van Allen belts on non-radiation-hardened parts. CMU says its lessons feed MoonRanger.
"Iris was in luck: the team had an opportunity to be powered on in space during this anomaly."
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024)"The lessons learned and insights gathered from Iris are instrumental for future missions, notably MoonRanger"
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024)
Heritage hardware¶
- design heritage (CMU field robotics; commercial computing): Whittaker's group first proposed robots to look for lunar ice to NASA in 1996. MoonRanger trades radiation-hardened parts for commercial ones, such as Nvidia's ruggedized TX2i processor, turned off for launch, and relies on a short, one-lunar-day mission. It passed its preliminary design review in August 2020. Ground tests only so far; the team was updating the rover in a CMU clean room in 2025.
"Whittaker and his team first approached NASA about using robots to search for lunar ice in 1996"
— CMU's MoonRanger Will Search for Water at Moon's South Pole - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, Sept 2020"The MoonRanger will be relying on NVIDIA’s ruggedized TX2i, with 1.5 teraflops of processing, which will be turned off during launch."
— A New Approach to Lunar Robots - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University, CMU Robotics Institute, July 2020"has completed its preliminary design review in preparation for a 2022 mission"
— CMU's MoonRanger Will Search for Water at Moon's South Pole - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, Sept 2020
- design heritage (the Neutron Spectrometer System): The NSS follows the Lunar Prospector neutron spectrometer's method (two helium-3 counters, one wrapped in cadmium) and was built at NASA Ames for Resource Prospector. A sibling unit flew on Peregrine (above). See pm1-nss.
"Its onboard Neutron Spectrometer System instrument will study hydrogen-bearing volatiles and the composition of lunar regolith, or soil."
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- NASA contract 80MSFC20C0008 to Astrobotic (NASA Marshall; signed 19 Nov 2019, runs to 7 Apr 2028): MoonRanger long-lead hardware, mission plan, navigation and autonomy software. Linked by its description, which names MoonRanger. This is the LSITP award, announced as $5.6 million; USAspending shows $8,011,640 obligated to date (base and all options $8,990,901), with new money added in 2025 and June 2026. (SMD LSITP; 2019-2028): $8,011,640
"THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FABRICATE LONG LEAD HARDWARE FOR PRIMARY MOONRANGER COMPONENTS, CREATE MISSION PLAN, REVISE ARCHITECTURES FOR NAVIGATION AND AUTONOMY"
— USAspending.gov, award 80MSFC20C0008, description; obligated 8011640.0; signed 2019-11-19; end 2028-04-07"NASA’s Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload (LSITP) program awarded a $5.6 million contract to Astrobotic and Carnegie Mellon to develop a flight-ready robot."
— NASA Selects Carnegie Mellon, Astrobotic To Build Lunar Robot - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, July 2019"Additional funding is expected to prepare the rover for its mission."
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025
- The Neutron Spectrometer System: developed at NASA Ames for Resource Prospector, then SMD's NASA-Provided Lunar Payloads (see pm1-nss). Johns Hopkins APL's NSS modeling task order (80MSFC20F0179, $636,828 obligated, 2020-2027) serves all NSS units, MoonRanger's among them; the sources do not split it by unit, so no amount is given here. (NASA AES (Resource Prospector); SMD NPLP; NASA contract (ARDES II task order); about 2013 on): amount not in public sources
"NEUTRON SPECTROMETER SYSTEM (NSS) MODELING SUPPORT TASK ORDER UNDER AEROSPACE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT (ARDES) II 80MSFC20D0004."
— USAspending.gov, award 80MSFC20F0179, description; obligated 636828.0 (Johns Hopkins APL)
- No SBIR or STTR award names MoonRanger (SBIR.gov file, full-text search). Astrobotic held other NASA rover SBIRs, for example 'Perception and Navigation for Exploration of Shadowed Domains' (agency tracking number 150118, contract NNX15CA62P, Phase I, 2015) and the CubeRover awards, but no source ties them to MoonRanger, so they are not counted here. (none linked; not in public sources): amount not in public sources
"Perception and Navigation for Exploration of Shadowed Domains"
— SBIR.gov award data, 150118 / NNX15CA62P, phase 1, 2015, 124943.0
How it got onto CLPS¶
"The principal investigator is Andrew Horchler of Astrobotic Technology, Inc., Pittsburgh."
— NASA Selects 12 New Lunar Science, Technology Investigations - NASA, release of 1 Jul 2019"Astrobotic was selected today by NASA’s Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload (LSITP) program to develop an autonomous lunar rover with its partner, Carnegie Mellon University."
— Astrobotic Awarded $5.6 Million NASA Contract to Deliver Autonomous Moon Rover, Astrobotic release, 2019"But NASA expanded it this spring to include the search for ice by adding its Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS)"
— CMU's MoonRanger Will Search for Water at Moon's South Pole - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, Sept 2020"MoonRanger's lander will be the Masten Space Systems' XL-1, supported by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services program."
— CMU's MoonRanger Will Search for Water at Moon's South Pole - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, Sept 2020"NASA has selected Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California, to deliver and operate eight payloads"
— NASA Awards Contract to Deliver Science, Tech to Moon Ahead of Human Missions - NASA, 8 Apr 2020"This led to the cancellation of Masten's CLPS mission."
— Wikipedia article "Commercial Lunar Payload Services", revision 1377878096 of 2026-10-01T18:18:11Z"MoonRanger is an autonomous microrover that will explore the lunar surface."
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA, 29 Jul 2025
On the Moon¶
Manifested on Blue Ghost Mission 4, targeted to land about 40 km south of Mons Malapert on the rim of Haworth crater, where the rovers can reach the crater and permanently shadowed regions. The team plans one lunar day of driving, up to about 14 Earth days.
"giving the rovers access to the crater and permanently shadowed regions"
— Blue Ghost + Elytra: Lunar South Pole - Firefly Aerospace, Our Destination"The team expects the rover to operate during one lunar day, meaning the mission could last for as many as 14 Earth days."
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025
FO's role¶
Grade: company-level. No FO flight of MoonRanger, its rover hardware or its autonomy software. The links are by company and people: MoonRanger's PI, Andrew Horchler, leads Astrobotic's FO-flown hazard-detection lidar, a landing sensor; Red Whittaker, who led MoonRanger's development at CMU, was PI of an FO-flown flyover terrain-mapping instrument for lunar pits (Masten Xombie, 2015) and co-investigator of Astrobotic's FO-flown autolanding system (2014). These are landing and flyover technologies, not rover autonomy, and no source ties any of them to MoonRanger. Grade: company-level, as the study's earlier feeder-line map has it; the study's earlier traceback (under the cancelled Masten mission) drew no link.
FO flights: 0. No FO investment in MoonRanger. FO's flights for the related company and PI projects are in FO records; they can't be split per payload in public data.
"Its PI also leads Astrobotic's FO-flown hazard detection lidar (TechPort 106719), a landing sensor rather than rover technology; same person, different technology, so no link is drawn."
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)"MoonRanger (Astrobotic; its PI leads Astrobotic's FO-flown hazard-detection lidar, a different technology)"
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)"2024-11-05 During this flight test campaign, an engineering model of Astrobotic’s hazard detection LiDAR sensor successfully collected terrain data"
— TechPort project 106719, description, Summary of Flight Test"The program will design, fabricate, test and fly a multi-modal, high-resolution mapping instrument to characterize pits, craters, and other convex features in flight."
— TechPort project 14162, description (FO; Carnegie Mellon University; PI William (Red) Whittaker)"discuss the results of a Flight Opportunities-funded flight for Carnegie Mellon University students (T0121)"
— FO annual report, FY2015, 14162, annual report p. 10"an autonomous autolanding system developed by Astrobotic Technology Inc. successfully commanded a propulsive lander to a safe landing in a hazard field"
— FO annual report, FY2014, 93996, annual report p. 48"who is leading development of MoonRanger"
— CMU's MoonRanger Will Search for Water at Moon's South Pole - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, Sept 2020 (Whittaker)
Who built it¶
"PI: Andrew Horchler, Astrobotic"
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"Lead development organizations: NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic, both in Pittsburgh."
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA"NASA awarded Astrobotic $5.6 million for MoonRanger in 2019, and the Pittsburgh-based company serves as the prime contractor on the project."
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025"The Carnegie Mellon team, led by Whittaker, Wettergreen and"
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025"the NASA Ames Research Center, which designed the rover's neutron spectrometer"
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025
Moon Base need¶
"Mobility assets' autonomous and semi-autonomous surface mobility and navigation"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0805: Autonomous Surface Mobility and Navigation, Description"MoonRanger will autonomously explore the lunar surface, following waypoints while adapting to terrain obstacles."
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"MoonRanger will brave the coldest spots in the Moon’s PSRs (permanently shadowed regions), using its Neutron Spectrometer System to sniff out hydrogen"
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"presents several technology challenges. Extreme cold temperature robotic and"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0804: Robotic and Mobility Systems in Extreme Cold Environments on the Lunar Surface, Description"Water ice abundance with vertical resolution <20 cm depth intervals to 1 m depth, at least 50"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-007 L: In situ measurements of the horizontal and vertical distribution, abundance, and physical makeup of shallow bulk water ice, Target measurement parameters"MoonRanger is not designed to survive the lunar night."
— Carnegie Mellon’s MoonRanger Slated To Fly on 2029 Lunar Mission - News - Carnegie Mellon University, CMU news, 6 Aug 2025"Phase 1 "Now through 2028", Phase 2 "2029–2033""
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base phases, Ignition deck 2
Open questions¶
- How much more NASA money MoonRanger needs before its July 2027 delivery: not in public sources beyond the contract's obligations to date.
- Has MoonRanger, or its autonomy, been tested on any flight or in a field campaign before the Moon? The public sources describe design reviews and clean-room tests only.
- Which NSS unit MoonRanger carries now (a 2023 poster labelled one for it): not in public sources.
- Astrobotic's UltraNav SBIR (TechPort 103134) named MoonRanger as a possible user; whether any of it flies on MoonRanger is not in public sources.