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October 20th, 2019

Astrobotic and Dymon Agree to Send the First Japanese Rover to the Moon


Dymon has signed a joint agreement with Astrobotic to send the first Japanese lunar rover onboard the Peregrine lunar lander to the Moon in 2021.

This agreement comes after Dymon surveyed the field of commercial lunar delivery providers around the world and determined Astrobotic to be the most mature provider, with the most capable end-to-end service for their needs. With this announcement, Dymon joins Astrobotic’s manifest of 18 signed contracts toward Peregrine Mission One.


Artistic rendition of Astrobotic's Peregine lunar lander. Image is courtesy of the company.

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will be launched on a Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch will carry the first lunar lander from American soil since Apollo.

CEO of Dymon, Shinichiro Nakajima, commented that the company is really excited to fly this mission with Astrobotic. This lunar rover Yaoki will result in the first lunar rover from Japan to explore the lunar surface, and marks a unique contribution to Peregrine’s mission. Yaoki has already successfully passed more than 100 tests, and has the smallest but most effective rover wheels ever produced. We are ready to complete development and fly in 2021.

Astrobotic CEO John Thornton noted that Dymon’s unique single axle rover is a creative design that the company look forwards to delivering on Peregrine in 2021 to launch this groundbreaking Japanese rover to the Moon.

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