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Iris rover

Peregrine Mission One · failed to land · commercial payload

A four-wheeled, 2 kg student-built rover with a carbon-fiber chassis and wheels and two cameras. On the Moon it was to test small, light rover mobility, take images for geology, and gather ultra-wideband radio ranging data for relative positioning, talking to the lander over Wi-Fi.

PI: William 'Red' Whittaker (Carnegie Mellon; Astrobotic co-founder); project manager Raewyn Duvall
Built by: Carnegie Mellon University (Robotics Institute), with more than 200 students (university)
Technology micro-rover (technology demonstration)
Moon Base need #0101 (The study's reading, and weak. No NASA source ties Iris to a Moon Base need. Its ultra-wideband ranging tests for relative localization touch on surface positioning (#0101). Its main aim was to show that a very small, low-cost rover can work on the Moon.)
Route onto CLPS commercial; A separate agreement between Carnegie Mellon and Astrobotic (a CMU spinout) to carry Iris and CMU's MoonArk on Astrobotic's first mission, alongside NASA's task order. NASA and Astrobotic ran the critical design review, passed in May 2020.
Timeline first funding 2017 (development began, with NASA support per CMU); first flight test not in public sources; selected not in public sources (CMU-Astrobotic agreement; critical design review passed May 2020); launch 2024-01-08; landing not in public sources
On the Moon partly operated
FO company-level

Flights before the Moon

None found in the public sources.

Heritage hardware

  • design heritage (software): Iris ran NASA JPL's F' (F Prime) flight software framework on non-radiation-hardened parts. No earlier flight of Iris hardware was found; the design changed often as student teams came and went (it began as a two-wheeled robot with a tail).

"The mission utilized NASA JPL's F' framework for its primary software and operated on independent battery power."
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024)

"Iris began as a two-wheeled robot supported in the rear by a tail that dragged along the surface."
— CMU's Iris Lunar Rover Meets Milestone for Flight (CMU, May 2020)

Funding before the lunar flight

  • Carnegie Mellon, with NASA support from 2017 (CMU's account; the support is not named). CMU puts the budget in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. No amount from SBIR or USAspending is tied to Iris. (Carnegie Mellon University; NASA (unspecified); 2017-2023): amount not in public sources

"Whittaker and his students began developing the robot in 2017, with support from NASA."
— CMU's Iris Lunar Rover Meets Milestone for Flight (CMU, May 2020)

"With its budget measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, as opposed to millions of dollars"
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024)

  • Related, not shown to fund Iris: Astrobotic's NASA SBIR awards for the CubeRover class, with Carnegie Mellon as partner. Phase I 175179 / NNX17CK06P (2017, $124,943, 'Cuberover for Lunar Resource Site Evaluation'); Phase II 175179 / 80NSSC18C0037 (2018, amount shown), which aimed to deliver a flight-qualified CubeRover by 2020. Linked by Wikipedia, which calls Iris the first flightworthy CubeRover but also says Iris was developed 'completely independent of NASA awards'. CMU says NASA supported Iris from 2017. The sources conflict, so the amount is not counted as Iris funding. (NASA SBIR (to Astrobotic); 2018-2020): $749,550

"Cuberover for Lunar Science and Exploration"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 80NSSC18C0037, award title; agency tracking number 175179; award amount 749550.0

"Cuberover for Lunar Resource Site Evaluation"
— SBIR.gov award data, Phase I, 175179 / NNX17CK06P, award amount 124943.0

"A Carnegie Mellon University initiative - completely independent of NASA awards - developed ''Iris'', the first flightworthy CubeRover."
— Wikipedia article "CubeRover", revision 1372012373 of 2026-08-29T21:03:05Z, Wikipedia, revision of 29 Aug 2026

How it got onto CLPS

"In a separate agreement with CMU, Astrobotic has agreed to deliver Iris and a CMU arts package called MoonArk on that mission."
— CMU's Iris Lunar Rover Meets Milestone for Flight (CMU, May 2020), CMU, 12 May 2020

"Officials at NASA and Astrobotic Inc., whose Peregrine lander will deliver the robot to the lunar surface, performed the review."
— CMU's Iris Lunar Rover Meets Milestone for Flight (CMU, May 2020)

On the Moon

Iris could not be deployed. The team powered it on in space, set up a two-way link through the lander and NASA's Deep Space Network, and verified its basic systems on limited power. It survived launch, the Van Allen belts and transit temperatures on non-radiation-hardened parts, and the team validated its ground software and thermal models. CMU says lessons from Iris feed MoonRanger.

"a successful two-way communication link was established with the Iris Rover via the lander through NASA's Deep Space Network"
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024)

"The Iris team verified the operation of its nanorover systems, including basic functionalities with limited power and telemetry, using non-radiation-hardened components."
— 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)

FO's role

Grade: company-level. No FO flight of Iris. Its PI, Red Whittaker, led FO's 'Flyover Mapping and Modeling of Terrain Features' (TechPort 14162): CMU students flew a mapping instrument over a simulated lunar pit on Masten's Xombie in 2015. That is a different technology, so the link is company-level (same PI). Astrobotic, which Whittaker co-founded, has its own FO projects; they are a different organization's work and are not counted here.

FO flights: 0. No FO investment in Iris. The 2015 Xombie flight's cost is in FO records.

Data: name: William (Red) Whittaker
— TechPort project 14162, contacts: Principal Investigator

Data: date: March 26, 2015
— FO annual report, FY2015, flights of TechPort project 14162 (p. 32, Xombie-07 campaign)

Who built it

"Red is also the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Iris Rover."
— Iris lunar rover (CMU INI news, 2024), CMU INI news, 9 Apr 2024

"Carnegie Mellon University's Iris was a 2 kg rover designed by university students."
— Wikipedia article "Peregrine Mission One", revision 1368288193 of 2026-08-08T04:52:48Z, Wikipedia, revision of 8 Aug 2026

Moon Base need

"Absolute and relative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) for crew and surface assets"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0101: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for Lunar Surface Extreme Environments, summary

"gather UWB RF ranging data for testing new relative localization techniques"
— Wikipedia article "Peregrine Mission One", revision 1368288193 of 2026-08-08T04:52:48Z

Open questions

  • Which NASA support did Iris get from 2017? CMU says NASA supported it; Wikipedia says it was independent of NASA's CubeRover awards. Was any of Astrobotic's CubeRover SBIR money spent on Iris?
  • Iris' cost: CMU says 'hundreds of thousands of dollars'; no exact figure in public sources.
  • When was Iris delivered to Astrobotic? CMU planned the end of 2020; the actual date is not in public sources.
  • Did any Iris prototype fly before Peregrine (parabolic, balloon or rocket)? Not in public sources.