The First UK Mission to the Moon
Learn about Spacebit Mission One: the United Kingdom’s first moon rover launch scheduled for 2021. The rover they are planning to send to the moon will be the world’s first walking rover. Asagumo rover is built on a single-unit CubeSat frame that is usually used for tiny satellites. Moon rover weighs just 1.3 kilogrammes, is solar-powered and instead of wheels or tracks, is equipped with four arachnid-like legs. The mission will be launched by the first ULA Vulcan mission in Q3 2021. The walking rover will be delivered to the Moon by Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander spacecraft. During the first demo mission the walking rover will move 10 meters from the Peregrine lander and send Full HD video plus 3D LIDAR data from its onboard sensors. It will be a flight of firsts — the first mission for both Peregrine and its rocket, United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur; the first trip to the moon’s surface by a UK-built craft; and the first time a legged robot has explored another world.
Working in partnership with Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall, Spacebit is also building a new ecosystem for ground based elements in space missions, including radio communications, ground networks and eventually components of mission control and they will be utilising Goonhilly’s existing network of over 60 dishes to run our pilot projects.