Astrobotic Technology, a leading Google Lunar XPRIZE competitor, is setting up to become the first delivery service to the Moon. With a low-cost launch, they now have a lander with the potential for precision landings driven by a system on a chip developed by Nvidia.
Astrobotic knows that space and robotics are not that easy, but at a recent Nvidia-sponsored technology conference, the company’s engineers were presenting technologies that it argues could ease and accelerate the path to the Moon.
And the company is offering anyone, including their XPRIZE competitors, a ride to the Moon. Safely on the surface they propose a civilized Mad Max road race to the finish line, 500 meters away, the winner taking the $20 million grand prize. To date, only the Japanese team HAKUTO has joined them.
To make their moon mission a reality, the company is blending an interesting mix of old and new into their lander design, the Griffin Lander. The new includes the Nvidia Tegra K1 chip used initially in its Jetson dev kit. The old is none other than General Electric designing the custom boards based on Tegra K1 and low-cost computer boards they hope will be recognized as a better, cheaper, alternative to existing radiation-hardened electronics costing millions. The Nvidia dev kit costs little more than $300.