A Historic Lunar Mission

On Jan. 8, 2024, two payloads from CMU launched to the moon — Iris, a tiny, lightweight lunar rover built by CMU students, and MoonArk, a collaborative sculpture project led by faculty, students and alumni. The launch, which took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, was part of the first private delivery to the lunar surface by Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based CMU spinoff. It was also part of America’s return to the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years.

Iris and MoonArk traveled aboard Peregrine, a lunar lander built by Astrobotic that was secured to United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. The launch went as planned, but after separating from the rocket, one of Peregrine’s tanks ruptured, eliminating the possibility for it to land on the moon. Iris returned to Earth’s atmosphere on Jan. 18 and disintegrated upon reentry.

The historic mission included many firsts — Iris was the first rover to feature a carbon fiber chassis and wheels, and would have been the first university-developed, student-led rover and the first American robotic rover to land on the moon. MoonArk, which contained hundreds of images, poems, music, nano-objects, mechanisms and earthly samples, would have been the first museum on the moon.