Astrobotic’s rover development group at Carnegie Mellon University is
developing the Mobility Testbed – a rover to facilitate testing
representative of the rover that will fly on
Astrobotic’s mission to the Moon’s Lacus Mortis region. The Mobility Testbed has the same mobility configuration as the
“protoflight” rover that will undergo environmental testing during the
Milestone Prize Accomplishment Round but is constructed primarily out of
terrestrial-grade components and materials. This reduces cost and lead
times while maintaining the physical attributes needed to conduct
mobility tests representative of the eventual flight article. Most
recently, the team has integrated hardware modifications such as
improved motor controllers, main computers, functional test radios, and
an all-new avionics bay.