Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On the morning of September 16, Beijing time, it was reported that recently, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic announced the acquisition of Masten Space Systems (Masten Space Systems), one of the contractors for NASA's lunar mission, which filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of July.

In the future, some Masten employees will continue to work at the company's headquarters in Mojave, Calif., to conduct suborbital flight research while continuing to develop Xogdor rockets.

Before Masten filed for bankruptcy protection, NASA handed over the task of sending robot payloads to the moon to the two companies. Like Masten, Astrobotic is developing lunar robots under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) project.

▲ Masten's lunar lander (pictured)

It is unclear how Masten's $75.9 million CLPS contract with NASA will be handled after NASA sources said that if Masten could not carry out its mission, they would transfer the payload planned on its lander to other CLPS missions. In a recent press release, Astrobotic stressed the value of Masten's vertical take-off and vertical landing (VTVL) technology and propulsion technology and said that the company's suborbital flight research would continue.

"the combined company will continue to conduct suborbital operations at Masten's Mojave test site, which is planned to continue to be a key rocket hot test site for the aerospace industry," Astrobotic said on September 13.

In August, Masten filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The court reportedly accepted a "high price" of $4.5 million submitted by Astrobotic on September 11, allowing it to acquire "almost all" of Masten's assets. At the auction, Masten received two bids from lunar lander developer Intuitive Machines and space transportation company Impulse Space, but both were lower than Astrobotic's offer.

Astrobotic highlighted Masten's tradition of vertical take-off and vertical landing technology, including winning the first prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X Challenge in 2009. "this honor lays the foundation for Masten's unique vertical take-off and landing program, which has so far demonstrated industry-leading landing accuracy and fast reusability in more than 600 vertical take-off and landing flights," Astrobotic wrote.

Astrobotic also praised Masten's Xogdor rocket, saying it "provides payloads for current and future lunar and interstellar missions," including Astrobotic's OPAL terrain relative navigation system. Astrobotic said it plans to develop a new version of the Xogdor rocket, "which will provide higher altitude and longer mission time, as well as supersonic flight for suborbital load testing." In addition, the new Xogdor rocket will conduct more tests for Astrobotic and its customers on Masten's propulsion test bench.

Masten's lunar technology partly supports NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program, which aims to send humans to the lunar surface and conduct permanent scientific exploration there, with the ultimate aim of sending humans to Mars using the moon as a ladder. Masten's technologies seem to be seen as a "mix of space technologies", and Astrobotic promised to "continue to move forward", but did not provide further details.

The South Pole of the moon is one of the goals of human lunar missions and research activities.

From previous reports, Masten's lunar technology involves lunar infrastructure construction, lunar night survival and lunar water mining. The company has also worked with Lunar Outpost and Honeybee Robotics to develop a system that uses rockets to mine lunar water ice.

According to the plan for the CLPS mission for NASA, the XL-1 lander developed by Masten will launch a rocket carrying SpaceX to an area likely to be filled with water ice at the south pole of the moon. The lander will carry instruments for measuring and mapping lunar surface temperature and radiation to detect the presence of hydrogen or other gases that may indicate water. According to a recent update from Masten, due to supply chain problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch will be delayed by one year to November 2023.

In August, NASA said lunar research deliveries "may be affected by Masten business operations," so the agency is considering transferring its payload to other CLPS missions. According to reports, Masten faced significant financial pressure before filing for bankruptcy protection, leading it to lay off about 20 employees in June and give the rest of its employees time off.

David Masten, founder and chief technology officer of Masten, said he would join Astrobotic. "this combined organization will enable us to continue to provide important services to our customers and help us have a greater impact on the future of mankind in space," he said in an Astrobotic statement.

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