PITTSBURGH, PA – Nov. 23, 2009 – NASA today selected Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon University for two contracts to study Moon excavation robots and methods to simulate the one-sixth lunar gravity on Earth. Lightweight excavation robots are key to recovering the water and hydrocarbon deposits at the Moon’s poles, which will enable explorers to “live off the land” rather than hauling all their supplies from Earth at great expense. New results from NASA probes released last week show that the water content in the polar soil is 10 to 30 times richer than previously thought,... [Read more]

PITTSBURGH, PA – October 22, 2009 – Astrobotic Technology Inc. said today that its robotic Moon expeditions will lead to the private-sector lunar landers that the Presidentially-appointed Augustine panel proposes for NASA’s future human missions. Officially known as the “Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee” and informally as the Augustine panel for its chairman, retired Lockheed Martin chairman Norm Augustine, the group delivered its long-awaited full report to NASA and the White House today. The panel’s summary, issued six weeks ago, telegraphed its main conclusion:... [Read more]

PITTSBURGH, PA – July 6, 2009 – Astrobotic Technology Inc. announced today that it has begun testing a robot designed to win a NASA competition for excavating simulated Moon dirt. The NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge, set for Oct. 17-18 at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, will award $500,000 for the robot that can dig and dump the most simulated lunar dirt during a 30-minute workout. (“Regolith” is the technical term for the soil covering a planet, moon or asteroid.) The Astrobotic robot, developed in collaboration with the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University,... [Read more]

PITTSBURGH — (Feb. 25, 2009) — Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA’s Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASA’s Lunar Surface Systems group. The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems... [Read more]