Bold claim: a lunar harvest could become a near-future reality, as two companies reveal plans to transform the Moon into a working depot for resources. And this is the part most people miss: the path from concept to routine feasibility hinges on practical testing and flexible platforms.
Starting small with FLIP
This collaboration isn’t new. Last August, Interlune announced it would equip a smaller prototype rover from Astrolab with a multispectral camera. The goal: estimate how much helium-3 exists in lunar regolith, using the camera’s data to gauge concentrations.
The FLIP rover, roughly the size of a go-kart, is slated for a late-year launch on a lunar lander built by Astrobotic. It will ride atop the Griffin lander, taking the place of NASA’s VIPER rover, which was reassigned to a different spacecraft.
This mission serves as a learning trial for both teams. Astrolab will refine its software and the operational aspects of a compact lunar rover, while Interlune will ground-truth helium-3 estimates against samples previously returned to Earth during the Apollo era.
Beyond FLIP, Astrolab is also developing a larger rover named FLEX, about the size of a minivan. FLEX features a distinctive horseshoe-shaped chassis capable of carrying roughly 3 cubic meters of payload. This design enables a wide range of tasks—from transporting multiple scientific instruments across the Moon and supporting two astronauts on extended drives, to moving bulky equipment. In Interlune’s case, FLEX could function as a mobile harvester or as a platform to deploy excavating hardware.
Astrolab founder and CEO Jaret Matthews explains the vision: the goal is to create the most versatile platform possible so that the company can operate with NASA as just one customer among many. The team pursues a modular approach, enabling quick configuration changes for different missions. In practical terms, that means the excavating gear Interlune is developing would be mounted under FLEX’s belly, ready to deploy when needed.
