The American company Astrobotic Technology has announced another delay to the launch of its Griffin-1 lunar module. The new target for the mission is July 2026 or later, which shifts the previous plan for the end of 2025. Although the launch is planned to take place with the powerful SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the reason for the delay is that the Griffin-1 module itself is not ready. It is currently in the assembly stage and pre-launch environmental impact tests have not yet begun.
This delay is especially notable because Astrobotic already has a history of schedule problems that directly affected NASA. The agency had paid the company to deliver the key VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) rover – The 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) spacecraft, a central element of the Artemis program to search for water ice at the Moon's south pole, is almost complete, but the Griffin-1 module that was supposed to deliver it remains largely a project. For this reason, NASA canceled the VIPER mission in July 2024. The mission was only resumed this year after scientists wrote an angry letter to the US Congress demanding its rescue. />
Despite the problems, NASA did not completely end its relationship with Astrobotic, with the company remaining a participant in the agency's Commercial Lunar Platform (CLPS) program. The new list of cargo that Griffin-1 is supposed to carry is diverse:
Rovers: Venturi Astrolab with their small rover FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) and Astrobotic's own small rover, CubeRover-1.
Commercial Deliveries: Plaques from the Nippon Travel Agency, a Nanofiche disk with an extensive library of documents, and a MoonBox container containing a collection of personal trinkets.
Initially, this entire cargo set was supposed to be delivered to the Moon by the end of 2025, but now it will happen closer to mid-summer 2026.
The Griffin-1 module is currently being assembled, with the company also testing its engines. It is expected to be the largest privately funded lunar module ever built, surpassing previous record holders:
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which delivered an estimated 155 kg payload.
Intuitive Machines' two missions, which delivered about 100 kg (both ended with the modules tipping over).
Griffin-1 will remain the largest until it is replaced by the significantly larger three-ton vehicles from SpaceX and Blue Origin.
In the context of the canceled and re-established VIPER mission, it is worth noting that Blue Origin is the only company that has agreed to deliver NASA's rover to the Moon, with their launch scheduled for late 2027.