Astrobotic Griffin Lunar Lander Mission

Astrobotic's Griffin Mission One is scheduled to launch no earlier than July 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Griffin is a medium-class commercial lunar lander designed to deliver payloads in the 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) range to the lunar surface, significantly larger than Astrobotic's earlier Peregrine lander, which suffered a propulsion failure in January 2024 and never achieved lunar landing. Griffin Mission One's primary payload is Astrolab's FLEX (Flexible Logistics and Exploration) rover — a 1,500-kilogram modular vehicle designed for payload transport and extended traverses on the lunar surface. The mission is funded under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, which provides launch and mission funding in exchange for guaranteed payload delivery services. If successful, Griffin Mission One would be the first demonstration of a commercial mid-class lunar lander fully completing its objectives — a milestone the CLPS programme has sought since its 2018 inception. The Peregrine failure and Intuitive Machines' IM-1 mission (which landed but tipped on its side in February 2024) underscore how technically demanding precision lunar landing remains. Astrobotic's Griffin lander stands approximately 6 metres tall and uses a throttleable methane/liquid oxygen engine for powered descent — a propellant combination chosen partly for its potential in-situ resource utilisation compatibility with future missions. The company has contracted payload slots to both NASA and commercial customers, demonstrating that demand for lunar cargo services is real and growing. Astrolab's FLEX rover, designed to operate for up to one year on the lunar surface, represents an additional commercial layer — a robot-as-a-service model that could underpin a broader commercial lunar economy. Together, Griffin and FLEX constitute the most commercially significant lunar mission of 2026 after Blue Moon.