'We want to be the UPS or FedEx of the moon': A startup's big moonshot

Los Angeles Times

The commercial lunar market is heating up as NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moon.

A California-based firm called Astrolab is building an all-purpose truck that is intended to construct lunar infrastructure and also ferry astronauts around, enabling work that would make long-term settlement on the moon possible.

NASA's drive to return to the moon in several years, along with technological and business improvements that have lowered launch costs, could be lucrative for businesses that get in there early and succeed.

Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut and advisory board member for Astrolab, said that they are transitioning from the earliest phase of exploration to the early stage of settlement.

NASA wants to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon by the year 2025. The goal is to develop a sustained lunar presence, which would serve as a stepping stone to future missions to Mars, from a place relatively close to home where astronauts could further explore the moon and train on how to live and work in space.

Mars is 140 million miles away, while the moon is 238,000 miles away.

It would need a base for operations on the moon. The lunar landers would deliver astronauts to the lunar surface. Last year, both companies said they were working on lunar terrain vehicles that could compete for a future NASA contract.

Astrolab was founded by former employees of NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and SpaceX, and is building a rover that can complete tasks such as construction, transporting supplies to build a lunar base, science and exploration, and ferrying astronauts around the moon. The company is testing a vehicle.

Jaret Matthews, company founder and chief executive, said that Astrolab's Flexible Logistics and Exploration rover is intended to be more versatile.

Matthews said they want to be the FedEx of the moon.

Matthews demonstrated how the rover is able to roll over rocks, maneuver sideways, and pick up and carry loads on Wednesday in Hawthorne. He said that the rover can carry more than a Ford F-150 truck bed. The company wants to build a fleet of rovers.

Matthews spent 10 years at NASA working on Mars rovers, before moving to SpaceX and developing the system that allows the Crew Dragon astronauts-carrying capsule to dock with the International Space Station.

He said that rovers are an extension of humanity and that they are our ambassadors in the solar system.

Astrolab's rover is different from other rovers because it only has one part of its job to do. The company wants to get a rover onto the moon before astronauts even get there.

Astro time is the most precious time in the world, he said.

Laura Forczyk, owner of space consulting firm Astralytical, said that the lunar market will be limited to government contracts. If technology matures and the market proves itself, it could expand beyond government exploration to construction, mining of resources, lunar infrastructure or even tourism.

As we get more comfortable with lunar exploration, it could really open up.

Astrolab is not only betting on government contracts. Matthews wouldn't discuss the company's investors or finances, but said he thinks the rover will be competitive for a number of commercial and civil opportunities.

The pilot rover was taken from its base in Hawthorne to California's Death Valley, where Hadfield tested it out in a rugged landscape.

He and a partner stood on a platform at the controls of the rover, as if they were ready to use a Segway. The prototype was being driven away. The team chasing them faded away as they drove, and the test became very realistic.

Hadfield said there was nothing in the field of view that was human. It wasn't perfect, but it was quite evocative of what it would be like for the 12 guys that walked on the moon.

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