Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic has unveiled its Griffin-1 lunar lander, a vehicle selected by NASA to support the agency’s efforts to establish a permanent lunar outpost. The lander is slated to launch in late 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of NASA’s Moon Base II mission.
The Griffin lander is contracted to deliver multiple research and technology demonstrations to the moon’s surface through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Among its payloads is the FLIP (Flex Lunar Innovation Platform) rover, developed by California-based Astrolab.
Infrastructure for Lunar Base
Astrobotic CEO John Thornton described the Griffin vehicle as the “first infrastructure-class lander going to the surface of the moon.” He stated that the lander will be integral to building the moon base. Integration of the Griffin-1 lander is nearing completion at Astrobotic’s headquarters, with several payloads already incorporated. These include Astrobotic’s own BEACON CubeRover, developed in coordination with Mission Control Space Services, and the European Space Agency’s LandCam-X, intended to enhance landing precision and reliability for future lunar missions.
The Griffin-1 lander is scheduled for transportation to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California next week for environmental testing. Following this, it will be transported to Florida in the coming months for the integration of the FLIP rover prior to its launch.
This mission marks Astrobotic’s second attempt to send a lander to the moon. The company’s smaller Peregrine lunar lander, which was the first NASA CLPS flight, experienced a propellant leak shortly after its January 2024 deployment and did not reach its intended destination.
Griffin Lander Specifications
Griffin is significantly larger than the Peregrine lander. While both landers measure approximately 6 feet (2 meters) in height, Griffin is nearly twice as wide, spanning close to 15 feet (4.5 meters). Astrobotic advertises the Griffin lander’s payload capacity to the lunar surface at 1,377 pounds (625 kilograms).
The Griffin-1 mission will carry a total of 10 payloads from six different nations, in addition to four NASA payloads aboard the FLIP rover. Notable smaller payloads on the Griffin lander include a plaque from the Nippon Travel Agency containing messages from Japanese children, the Galactic Library to Preserve Humanity from Nanofiche, which holds a miniaturized collection of literature and art, and a MoonBox capsule designed to deliver items submitted globally to the Tokyo-based company Astrobotic on micro SD cards.
Thornton anticipates that the mission will return “chock full of interesting science and data” and “some of the best imagery we have seen yet coming back from the surface” of the moon.
Helene Elliott is the senior reporter for News Raise. She covers Science news. She also has a keen interest in photojournalism. Helene holds a nomination for the prestigious Red Smith Award. She is married to author Dennis D’Agostino, a former publicist with the New York Mets.
