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AstroAnt

IM-2 · landed · commercial payload

A palm-sized robot with magnetic wheels, from a planned swarm for inspecting the outsides of spacecraft and rovers. On IM-2 one AstroAnt was to drive across the top of Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover and take contactless temperature readings of its radiator with a thermopile, sending data over Bluetooth.

PI: Joseph Paradiso (MIT; PI of the FO project), with Ariel Ekblaw; robot work led by Fangzheng Liu
Built by: MIT Media Lab (Space Exploration Initiative and Responsive Environments group) (university)
Technology miniature inspection robot (robotic monitoring and servicing)
Moon Base need #0501, #1002 (The study's reading. The Users Guide does not name #0501 (robotic inspection, maintenance and repair) or #1002 (autonomous monitoring) among its near-term gaps. FO's page says AstroAnt's rover data 'could be used to inform NASA's Artemis III crewed mission'; that is FO's claim, not a NASA gap link.)
Route onto CLPS commercial; A commercial payload: MIT arranged with Lunar Outpost to fly one AstroAnt on MAPP, which rode on Intuitive Machines' lander. No NASA selection. The date of the agreement is not in public sources; Nokia's mission article of July 2023 already lists AstroAnt on MAPP.
Timeline first funding 2020-12 (FO project start; the matching NASA grant began 2020-12-08); earlier funding not in public sources; first flight test 2021-04-28 (FO parabolic campaign); selected not in public sources (on MAPP by July 2023); launch 2025-02-26; landing 2025-03-06
On the Moon partly operated
FO tested

Flights before the Moon

  • FO: Zero Gravity Corporation G-FORCE ONE (parabolic aircraft), Orlando, Florida, 2021-04-28 to 2021-05-04. The 'rovable' robots, now called AstroAnt: mobility and inspection on different surfaces in microgravity and lunar and Martian gravity (FO project 106703, T0286).

"Flight Opportunities enabled testing of AstroAnt in 2021 in simulated lunar, Martian, and microgravity aboard a Zero Gravity Corporation aircraft"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"Autonomous Robot Swarms for Lunar Orbit Servicing and Space Asset Assembly](https://flightopportunities.ndc.nasa.gov/technologies/286/) (MIT)"
— Flight Summaries - NASA, campaign of April-May 2021

  • FO: Zero Gravity Corporation G-FORCE ONE (parabolic aircraft), 2021-12-07 to 2021-12-15. A second campaign for the same robots. FO counts four AstroAnt flights in 2021 across the two campaigns.

"December 2021, MIT tested “rovable” robots to evaluate their"
— nasa.gov: fy23-fo-accomp-report-final-06202024.pdf, FY2023 report p. 9

"Autonomous Robot Swarms for Lunar Orbit Servicing and Space Asset Assembly](https://flightopportunities.ndc.nasa.gov/technologies/286/) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)"
— Flight Summaries - NASA, December 2021 campaign

  • aircraft (not FO): MIT Space Exploration Initiative's annual ZERO-G charter (parabolic aircraft), 2024-05-14. AstroAnt flew again on MIT's own reduced-gravity flight, months before the lunar mission. MIT says it had also flown on earlier microgravity flights; which ones beyond FO's is not stated.

"On May 14 this spring, the MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) hosted its sixth annual reduced gravity flight"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…, post of 24 Jul 2024

"the AstroAnt project, which also flew this year and has flown on previous microgravity flights"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…

Heritage hardware

  • design heritage: AstroAnt grew out of the MIT team's earlier miniature robots that move on the body ('rovables'). The lunar unit carried a thermopile and Bluetooth Low Energy; one robot flew, not a swarm.

"Building on our team’s prior work in the on-body miniaturized robotic swarm"
— Overview ‹ AstroAnt — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch

"Both the robot and central station are equipped with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capability for wireless data transfer."
— AstroAnt Payload — To the Moon to Stay

Funding before the lunar flight

  • NASA Space Technology grant to MIT, 'swarm communication architectures for many-unit mobile robots' (80NSSC21K0353). It matches FO project 106703 in dates (start Dec 2020) and topic, and the description echoes MIT's AstroAnt page. The record does not name FO or AstroAnt, so tying it to the FO project is the study's reading. (NASA STMD (CFDA 43.012 Space Technology); probably FO; 2020-2022): $648,353

"BUILDING ON PRIOR WORK IN MINIATURIZED ROBOT LOCOMOTION ON UNEVEN SURFACES"
— USAspending.gov, award 80NSSC21K0353, description; obligated 648353.0, 2020-12-08 to 2022-03-31, CFDA 43.012

"Building on our team’s prior work in the on-body miniaturized robotic swarm"
— Overview ‹ AstroAnt — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch

  • Industry support: Castrol, a Media Lab member company, funds part of the AstroAnt research and payload program. Amount not public. (private (MIT Media Lab member); not in public sources): amount not in public sources

"This AstroAnt research is funded in part by [Media Lab member company Castrol]"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…

How it got onto CLPS

"Working with Lunar Outpost, we are sending one AstroAnt robot to the Moon for a technology demonstration test."
— AstroAnt Payload — To the Moon to Stay

"its commercial payloads included two technologies that were advanced by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

On the Moon

AstroAnt was to start work once MAPP rolled onto the surface, but the lander on its side kept MAPP from deploying, so AstroAnt never did its task. MIT did receive AstroAnt's temperature data in transit. FO's page describes its surface work only in the conditional.

"we were able to transmit a command for our camera payload and got temperature data for both the camera and the AstroAnt in transit"
— To the Moon to Stay: MIT Lunar Mission Launch 2025 — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch

"an AstroAnt would have moved across the top surface of the rover"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"Intuitive Machines landing on its side prevented MAPP's deployment"
— Private mini rover aboard sideways Athena moon lander was ready to roll — but it couldn't get out

FO's role

Grade: tested. FO flew AstroAnt's direct predecessor, the 'rovable' robots, on four parabolic flights in 2021 in microgravity and lunar and Martian gravity, which a ground lab cannot reproduce for a robot that must grip a surface by magnets. MIT showed the robots moved on rough surfaces, beta cloth, steel and painted aluminum and climbed obstacles up to 80 degrees. FO says the tests 'demonstrated its readiness to roll out of the laboratory and onto a rover on the Moon'. The study's earlier traceback grade (FO-tested) stands. The FO flights came before AstroAnt had a lunar ride, so the fit was not planned for CLPS at the time. MIT also flew it outside FO in 2024.

FO flights: 4. Four flights per FO's page. FO's flight purchases can't be split per payload in public data: FO records. The grant above may be FO's award to MIT; that needs FO's records to confirm.

  • Award 80NSSC21K0353: $648,353

"SWARM COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURES FOR MANYUNIT MOBILE ROBOTS"
— USAspending.gov, award 80NSSC21K0353, description; CFDA 43.012; the record does not name FO; tied to project 106703 by dates and topic (the study's reading)

"Matured through a series of parabolic flights supported by Flight Opportunities, MIT’s miniature robot AstroAnt will head to the Moon’s South Pole"
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)

"technology – now known as AstroAnt – will be deployed on a"
— nasa.gov: fy23-fo-accomp-report-final-06202024.pdf

"By testing with Flight Opportunities, AstroAnt demonstrated its readiness to roll out of the laboratory and onto a rover on the Moon as well as in the commercial market."
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"The robot can overcome obstacles with an angle up to 80 degrees."
— Overview ‹ AstroAnt — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch, AstroAnt overview, Zero-G test caption

"tested AstroAnt on four parabolic flights with NASA over the course of 2021, including multiple lunar-g and zero-g tests"
— AstroAnt Payload — To the Moon to Stay

Who built it

"JOSEPH PARADISO & ARIEL EKBLAW"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"led by Media Lab researcher Fangzheng Liu"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…

Data: name: Joseph Paradiso
— TechPort project 106703, contacts, Principal Investigator

Moon Base need

"Robots that inspect, maintain and repair in-space and surface systems when crew are absent,"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0501: Robotic Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair

"These data would help with monitoring the rover’s thermal system and could be used to inform NASA’s Artemis III crewed mission."
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

Open questions

  • Is NASA grant 80NSSC21K0353 ($648,353) FO's award for project 106703? The record names no program; FO's records would settle it.
  • When and on what terms MIT agreed with Lunar Outpost to fly AstroAnt: not in public sources.
  • Which other microgravity flights AstroAnt made before 2024, beyond FO's two 2021 campaigns: not in public sources.
  • Did AstroAnt return anything beyond temperature data in transit? Not in public sources.