The Astrolab FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) is a medium-sized commercial lunar rover designed to deploy on the lunar surface. Image credit: Astrolab/SPACETV

Related channels: MAGPIE (ESA MOON ROVER), EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, ISPACE, THE MOON, ARTEMIS PROGRAM, ISS (SPACE STATION), NASA, SPACEX, LAUNCHES

Latest FLIP news

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Take a Sneak Peek at Astrolab’s FLIP Rover Before It Heads to the Moon!
Want to support what we do? Check out our sponsor Norton VPN: https://norton.ow5a.net/c/221109/4022657/4405?sharedid=space&param1=aff&param2=ytvideo&param3=vpn&subid1=Oct_Space_19 Space.com goes inside the clean room at Astrolab and gets a full breakdown of the company's FLIP moon rover, set to launch aboard the Griffin-1 mission by the end of this year, led by the company's CEO and founder Jaret Matthews. 🚀 Follow Space.com 🌌 Website: https://www.space.com 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoFromSpace 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacedotcom 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacecom 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spacedotcom 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/Spacedotcom
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FLIP Rover TVAC Testing Complete
TVAC was an incredibly positive test for us. All of FLIPS' key components and systems worked great, and we are officially ready for the next phase.
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FLIP Rover Vibration Testing Complete
With FLIP rover vibration testing completed successfully last month, let's dive into the results. The sounds you are hearing in the background of this video were designed from live sounds captured during the week and a half of vibe testing. During these tests the rover was subjected to the highest structural loads and most stressful vibration environment it will ever experience. Launch will be less stressful than what it has already survived. Health checks during and after testing show that FLIP came out the other side in pristine condition. Before tests like this, the engineering team makes approximations about what the hardware can handle. Now that they have accelerometer data, the team is correlating the structural model with the data from the test. This will allow the engineers to conduct the final round of structural analysis to certify the rover for launch. One more step towards the launch pad and lunar surface. #VibeTesting #Astrolab #LunarRover #Engineering #Space
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Astrolab FLIP rover integration on top of Astrobotic Griffin-1 lander
Astrolab hardware, meet Astrobotic hardware. Before FLIP headed to final testing, the rover was integrated on top of the Griffin-1 lander cone and ramps. This is the same perch FLIP will have on its journey to the Moon, so this testing provides the final data we need to ensure a safe trip. We test how we fly. #LunarRover #Astrolab #Astrobotic
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Deploying Our FLIP Rover's Solar Panel
A year and a half ago our FLIP rover was just an idea. An idea to create a tech demo mission to the Moon that would pave the way for all our rovers to come. This past week, it deployed its solar panel via vehicle control for the first time, as well as via a crane in preparation for first drive. FLIP has been a test of our team and processes and has refined our delivery of space-ready hardware under tight timelines.
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Astrolab 2025 Year in Review: Building FLIP, Testing FLEX
From designing, building, and testing our FLIP rover to NASA design reviews to pressurized suit testing of our FLEX rover, 2025 was an incredible year for Astrolab! Check out some of the highlights. #Astrolab #NASA #Space #YearInReview
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FLEX Rover Drives on the Lunar Surface (Animation)
FLEX is ready to take on the lunar surface. With a 2-ton payload capacity, our FLEX rover is prepared to support the needs of the lunar economy and construct necessary lunar infrastructure. FLEX’s airless tires have successfully survived multiple tests in environments analogous to the Moon’s harsh conditions, possessing the ability to navigate terrain up to a 26-degree slope. From serving as transport for astronauts to autonomously deploying scientific payloads to laying out cable to support power infrastructure, FLEX is flexible. Our lunar rover is up for whatever is needed to help humanity not just survive but thrive on the Moon. #LunarTerrainVehicle #LunarRover #Astrolab #Space #LunarEconomy
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FLEX and FLIP Rover Tire Testing Complete!
We’re all about getting FLEX’s wheels in the dirt. And also, on testing apparatuses. From a good ol’ test run in the desert to a lunar night survival test at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we’ve been putting FLEX's rover tires to the test for more than three years now alongside our strategic partner, Venturi Space. These tests ensure the tire structure can support maximum loads, maintain traction under all necessary weights, survive cold lunar nights, deal with the vibrations of launch, and much more as they support our FLEX and FLIP rovers.
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FLIP Rover TVAC Testing Has Begun!
Our FLIP rover hit an important milestone yesterday on its path to the lunar surface. Our Moon-bound rover rolled into thermal vacuum chamber testing at Element Materials Technology's facility in Los Angeles. For the next two weeks, the lunar rover will undergo tests in a variety of temperatures, ensuring the hardware is ready for the harsh conditions that await on the Moon. #LunarRover #FLIPRover #Astrolab #Space #TVACtesting
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Astrolab's First FLIP Rover Egress Test Successful
Egress test successful! Last week our FLIP test vehicle passed a major test: dismounting from our test fixture which replicates the dismount the rover will make from the Griffin lander onto the lunar surface. This egress involves a controlled descent down a steep ramp, and a transfer to the Moon. The tether system wrapped around the rover’s rear wheels worked as intended to enable a clean dismount for the test vehicle. Our FLIP rover serves as a technology demonstration mission, testing out the hardware and software that will power our FLEX rover on the Moon during future missions.
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Astrolab's FLEX Rover on the Lunar Surface (Full Animation)
New and improved, meet the latest iteration of FLEX! Our rover has now been through years of testing as we have refined everything from its sensors to the crew stand where astronauts pilot the vehicle. We’re excited to see the rover continue to evolve into the version that will head to the Moon. #LunarTerrainVehicle #Space #LunarRover #Astrolab
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A Look Inside Astrolab's FLEX-LTV NASA Preliminary Design Review
More than a year of work on the FLEX-LTV design culminated last month with a week of detailed presentations and demos to NASA for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract Preliminary Design Review. From showcasing the FLEX rover's hardware and the tests we have put it through to our mission control setup to our FLIP test vehicle, we were proud to exhibit what our team has created. In addition to welcoming representatives from NASA, we were joined by our partners from Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research who have contributed invaluable work to making FLEX the highly capable rover it is today. Thanks to our partners, NASA, and our hardworking Astrolab team!
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A Look at Astrolab’s FLIP Rover Design
This animation shows an artist’s rendering of the current FLIP design which will be heading to the Moon aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1). FLIP rover will mature components and subsystems that will be used on our FLEX rover. That includes full-sized batteries, tires, avionics systems, sensors, and software. Additionally, it will bring customers of its own to the lunar surface, offering opportunities to gather valuable science data, including effective ways to mitigate the risks that lunar dust poses to vehicles, structures, and spacecraft systems.
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Astrolab’s FLIP Rover Headed to Moon Aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One
Today, Astrolab and @Astrobotic announced that Astrobotic’s Griffin lander will deliver Astrolab’s FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover to the Moon as part of Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1). The Astrobotic mission, originally manifested with NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, is scheduled for the end of 2025. This animation shows an artist’s rendering of the initial FLIP prototype. Read more in the full press release: https://www.astrolab.space/2025/02/05/astrolabs-flip-rover-joins-astrobotics-griffin-1-to-the-moon/ Follow Astrolab on social media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/astrolabspace/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrolab.space X: https://x.com/Astrolab_Space Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Astrolab.Space TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@astrolab.space
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More than just a 'Moon buggy': Californian startup Astrolab unveils its next generation space rover
If NASA adopts FLEX and its payload platform, it would become the first passenger-capable rover to ply the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in the 1970s. READ MORE : https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/12/more-than-just-a-moon-buggy-californian-startup-astrolab-unveils-its-next-generation-space Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/euronews?sub_confirmation=1 Watch our LIVE here: https://www.youtube.com/c/euronews/live Subscribe to our thematic channels: NoComment: https://www.youtube.com/c/nocommenttv?sub_confirmation=1 Euronews Green: http://bit.ly/2sMsaDB Euronews Next: https://www.youtube.com/c/EuronewsNext?sub_confirmation=1 Euronews Travel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EuronewsTravel?sub_confirmation=1 Euronews is available on YouTube in 12 languages: https://www.youtube.com/user/euronewsnetwork/channels #Mobility
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The Engineering and Architecture of Astrolab’s FLIP Lunar Rover

The FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform Structural Architecture

  • Deploying the largest commercial robotic rover to the Moon: Developed by Venturi Astrolab, the FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover represents a massive technological milestone in modern planetary surface mobility. Weighing approximately 480 kilograms, this uncrewed heavy-duty robotic vehicle is officially structured to be the largest and heaviest American robotic rover by mass to ever operate on the lunar surface.
  • Serving as a critical pathfinder for Artemis missions: Scheduled to launch to the Lunar South Pole aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One, the FLIP rover operates as a rapid spiral development testbed. By proving out core subsystems under true lunar environment conditions, the platform directly validates the larger, upcoming Crewed Lunar Vehicle (CLV-1) contracted by NASA to transport human astronauts across the rugged moon terrain.

Hyper-Deformable Airless Tires and Extreme Thermal Endurance

  • Rethinking planetary traction with hyper-deformable wheels: Co-developed alongside Venturi Space, the FLIP chassis completely replaces traditional rigid treads with a highly innovative flexible wheel design. Utilizing an airless composite structure woven from Nomex and Kevlar mesh, these hyper-deformable wheels use the abrasive lunar regolith itself to pack into the weave, functioning as natural traction treads across thousands of kilometers.
  • Surviving the hostile deep-freeze of the lunar night: To establish long-term, sustainable commercial infrastructure on the Moon, the rover’s core mechanics are built to bypass the limitations of historical short-duration probes. The vehicle houses a bespoke, insulated battery enclosure system configured to endure at least 150 hours of continuous solar blackouts and frigid night temperatures dropping below minus 230 degrees Celsius.

Edge Computing Supercomputers and Advanced Science Payloads

  • Testing the first local Large Language Models on the Moon: The high-tech payload bay is integrated with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Spaceborne Computer-4, establishing high-performance edge computing directly on the lunar surface. This advanced hardware configuration marks the historic first time that complex artificial intelligence and LLM software are processed natively on a lunar vehicle, drastically enhancing operational autonomy.
  • Accommodating multi-agency technology and science experiments: Designed with a versatile, open-architecture modular payload interface, the heavy-duty vehicle can transport up to 30 kilograms of specialized equipment. The rover will carry 20 distinct scientific instruments, including high-precision lidar 3D surface mappers, four dedicated NASA instruments, and specialized sensors engineered to actively map concentrations of the valuable energy isotope helium-3.

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