Apr 8, 2025A bonus of working at a lunar rover company is sometimes you get to take the rover for a spin!While driving our FLEX mockups in a dirt lot might not be as exciting as on the lunar surface, these test drives help us refine our technology and better refine the driving experience.
Jun 27, 2025 New and improved, meet the latest iteration of FLEX! Our rover has now been through years of testing as we have refined everything from its sensors to the crew stand where astronauts pilot the vehicle. We’re excited to see the rover continue to evolve into the version that will head to the Moon.
Jul 2, 2025As our FLEX rover has gone through testing, the direction astronauts pilot it has evolved. Now that the lunar dust has settled, Astrolab’s LTV Certification Lead Luke Walker is here with some background on selecting this driving setup.
Jul 8, 2025 #space #lunarterrainvehicle #AstrolabIt’s time to enter the simulation. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the simulator of our FLEX lunar rover developed by our partners at Odyssey Space Research, LLC!The setup has controls for simulating everything from rover chassis height to headlights, and provides features such as persistent rover tracks in lunar regolith and tracking of the driving path on the display.
Astrolab@Astrolab_Space#ICYMI, FLIP is prepping for a stylish dismount on the lunar surface. The first ever tests of the rover’s system for egressing from its ride to the Moon, @astrobotic's Griffin lander, were successful!The team has been working hard on not only the rover, but also this robust test fixture. By putting FLIP through situations as close as possible to what it will be experiencing on the Moon, we’re building confidence in the rover’s software and hardware. That in turn is feeding directly into our development of our larger rover, FLEX, which uses much of the same hardware and software as FLIP, including the same batteries and wheels.
Astrolab@Astrolab_SpaceFLIP is our lunar pioneer, testing out technology that will help make our FLEX rover a success! All of our FLIP rover testing here on Earth and on the lunar surface is putting Astrolab’s hardware and software through its paces.FLIP and FLEX both feature some of the same components and subsystems, such as:-avionics systems-wheel actuators-motor controllers-sensors-full-sized batteries-tires-software
AstrolabAstrolab_Space·Let TVAC testing begin!Our FLIP rover hit an important milestone today on its path to the lunar surface. Our Moon-bound rover rolled into thermal vacuum chamber testing at @ElementTesting's facility in Los Angeles. For the next two weeks, the rover will undergo tests in a variety of temperatures, ensuring hardware is ready for the conditions that await on the Moon.
Astrolab@Astrolab_Space·That moment you see the rover that went from concept to flight vehicle in just 13 months head into TVAC testing.When an opportunity to fly to the lunar South Pole on @astrobotic’ Griffin Mission One opened last year, we knew it was a “moonshot” we couldn’t pass up. The Astrolab team designed the FLIP rover to be a technology demonstration that validates as many of the core components and subsystems of the larger FLEX rover as possible, including its tires, batteries, and software. FLIP will also provide transportation for a number of commercial and government payloads.Now just over a year into the FLIP campaign, Astrolab has officially kicked off two weeks of initial thermal vacuum chamber testing! This is a huge milestone for the whole Astrolab team as we continue advancing FLIP and FLEX’s pathways to the lunar surface and beyond.
Astrolab@Astrolab_SpaceFLEX is ready to take on the lunar surface.With a 2-ton payload capacity, our FLEX rover is prepared to support the needs of the lunar economy and construct necessary lunar infrastructure. FLEX’s airless tires have survived multiple tests in environments analogous to the Moon’s harsh conditions, possessing the ability to navigate terrain up to a 26-degree slope.From serving as transport for astronauts to autonomously deploying scientific payloads to laying out cable to support power infrastructure, FLEX is flexible. Our lunar rover is up for whatever is needed to help humanity not just survive but thrive on the Moon.
Astrolab@Astrolab_SpaceWe’re ready to roll! Meet the tire that will move both our FLIP and FLEX rovers across the lunar surface.The hyper-deformable tire has 192 cables acting like spokes, 96 springs, and is made from advanced materials developed by our strategic partner @Venturi. We’re sending these tires to the Moon first on our FLIP rover to gain crucial data about their interaction with the lunar surface, ensuring FLEX is ready to drive efficiently around the Moon and survive the lunar night.
Astrolab@Astrolab_Space·Dec 24Successfully completing numerous egress tests with our FLIP test vehicle was a major milestone for Astrolab this year! Putting FLIP through situations as close as possible to what it will experience on the lunar surface builds confidence in the rover’s software and hardware.
We named our rover FLEX because it is flexible and ready to adapt to whatever is needed to build the lunar economy.While past rovers—like NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover—have been built custom for the bespoke applications needed to achieve specific mission parameters, FLEX is designed to adapt to the needs of a multitude of missions. For example, its novel mobility system gives it the ability to pick up and deposit modular payloads and attach tools that can accomplish everything from collecting samples to rolling out cables.Instead of having FLEX’s full capabilities and purpose determined at launch, new tools and payloads can be launched to a fleet of awaiting FLEX rovers on the lunar surface for many years to come, providing logistic services for customers today and in the future.
FLEX’s tires have been put through a lot over the years to make sure they will withstand everything the Moon can throw at them. From this test speeding over rocks on the back of an ATV to being cycled through extreme temperatures, our rover’s hyper-deformable airless tires developed in collaboration with strategic partner @Venturi are ready to take on the lunar surface.
Jan 18, 2026 AUSTINDuring the Everyday Astronaut’s third annual Astro Awards event, I was able to discuss a new rover design called FLIP with some of Astrolab’s employees and thought this would make an excellent short video to highlight some of the innovative technologies that may well play a big role in the long-term NASA and commercial human habitation plans on both the Moon and Mars!So, what is the Astrolab Flex Lunar Innovative Platform (FLIP) and what makes the wheel design so innovative? Why did they have to come up with a new design since we already saw lunar rovers during the Apollo era and even see rovers operating on Mars? Let’s discuss!Astrolab is a new commercial space company that is participating in the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and is pioneering new ways to explore and operate on distant planetary bodies. We’re singularly focused on designing, building, and operating a fleet of multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers to extend and enhance humanity’s presence in the solar system.FLIP is Astrolab's technology demonstration platform that will be Astrolab’s first rover to deploy on the lunar surface, scheduled to land at the Lunar South Pole in Summer 2026 as part of Griffin Mission 1.FLIP is a key step in Astrolab’s rapid spiral development approach: design-build-test-fly cycles that demonstrate increased capabilities and incorporate lessons learned during development and qualification testing and has the capacity to bring technologies and payloads to the Lunar South Pole.One of the technologies that makes Astrolab’s FLIP rovers unique is the wheel design that takes lessons learned from the past Apollo and Mars Lunar Rover wheels and completely rethinks the overall approach with long-term, sustainable operation far more than what has been envisioned before. The technology being demonstrated with this design could well be a critical enabling capability to realize long-term habitation and operations on the lunar and Mars surfaces.I hope you enjoy this discussion about the wheel and tire designs and that you found the information helpful! Thank you for your support and for watching!Link to Astrolab for more information and details:https://www.astrolab.space/flip-rover/
