Astrobiotics' Peregrine lander is one of the many in the running
Astrobotic Technology : The Pittsburgh-based firm was founded in 2008 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker. It was among the many teams that participated in Google’s $20 million Lunar XPrize, which shut down this year without a winner.
Astrobiotic’s lunar lander, dubbed Peregrine, stands on four shock-absorbing legs and attaches to the launch vehicle via a standard clamp.
'The Peregrine Lander precisely and safely delivers payloads to lunar orbit and the lunar surface on each mission,' the firm says.
'Payloads can be mounted above or below the decks, and can remain attached or deployed according to their needs.'
Deep Space Systems: The systems engineering company from Colorado is long been a subcontractor to NASA and other aerospace giants, including Lockheed Martin.
The firm develops everything from plans and interface control documents to ground software tools for missions. Deep Space Systems says it focuses on the ‘the design, development, integration, testing and operations of science and exploration spacecraft.’
Their lunar lander concept is a rover that appears to feature smaller scouting robots that can be deployed.
Draper: The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based laboratory is a not-for-profit research and development organization. Draper develops everything from autonomous systems and biomedical solutions to systems.
Notably, Drapers accomplishments include a device that measures cabin air on the International Space Station to check for volatile organic compounds.
The firm’s concept lander, dubbed Artemis-7, will sit on four mechanical legs to carry out sample collection and return.
Firefly Aerospace: Firefly showed off a concept for a commercial launch vehicle and a lunar lander.
While the firm hasn’t released much detail just yet, it appears to be a three-stage system upon which the
