A lunar mission at a fraction of the cost

The Robus-1 shared-ride strategy offers a financial model to put space research within reach of smaller, budget conscious space programs and universities — with a low cost per kilogram.

Our first goal: Place five rovers on the lunar surface.

 

  • Our plan utilizes the concept of a shared ride – solo space transportation service costs are prohibitively expensive. The Robus shared ride concept lowers mission costs by transporting several rovers and probes within a single spacecraft.
  • Promoting a collective effort – Robus hopes to facilitate worldwide joint operations by providing smaller space programs and universities with space transport access through the Robus-1 lunar mission. With current technology, lower cost space access – and our shared-ride strategy – Robus offers a financial model to put space research within reach of more organizations.

Lunar transportation logistics

Our goal is to reach the Moon in 2019
The Robus-1 lander is designed to carry multiple scientific research rovers
Rovers are built by each participant
Overhead costs are distributed among participants

 

SpaceX Falcon Heavy delivers 54,400 kg to low Earth orbit

Estimated development cost of the Robus-1 lander

Estimated cost for an individual participant's 200 kg payload

Robus aims to provide space mission management, logistics, and transportation

The commercial space industry is maturing quickly. Robus will economically deploy your robotic device on to the lunar surface. The Robus vision is to exclusively provide lunar access services focused on the needs of research organizations and space programs that see the value in delegating their lunar transportation logistics to specialists and focusing their efforts on what they do best – developing their robotic research device. Robus offers the industry’s lowest cost per kilogram pricing structure.

 

  • Client responsibilities: Each client is responsible for construction of their own scientific package or rover
  • Costs: Total client cost is the transportation cost, plus the expense of their science package or rover

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy with the Robus-1 spacecraft can deliver 7 metric tons (15,432 lbs) to the lunar surface. This capability translates to several surface rovers and probes. Our plan is to place five 200 kg (440 lb.) rovers on the lunar surface for scientific research.

The new path of space exploration

How does a private enterprise even consider attempting a lunar mission of any kind, be it robotic or human? The cost of rockets, spacecraft — and the team to make everything happen — is not a casual figure. The exciting answer is that we see several trends coming together, which will make this decade an amazing time in space.

With better technology and the development of reusable rockets, technology continues to improve and decline in cost. Commercial space industries are growing in number along with well established space programs in over 20 nations. With them comes an increasing demand for space access. The costs of our first mission will be shared by multiple participants in order to maximize the amount of mass that a lander can deliver to the lunar surface. We can offer a very low cost per kilogram because Robus-1 is large and can have multiple payloads that share the expense.