Astrobotic has announced that its Griffin-1 lunar mission is now targeting July 2026, a shift that gives engineers time to complete propulsion integration and qualify the lander’s engines. Their update, published today, also outlines steady progress on systems from tanks to software as the company prepares to deliver multiple payloads to the Moon’s south-polar Nobile region.

With this news, any chance of a Falcon Heavy launch from Kennedy Space Center in 2025 is now kaput.

Status

Astrobotic said that Griffin-1’s structural build is “nearing full integration,” with pressure tanks, ramps, attitude-control thrusters and solar arrays completing fit checks. The company says each completed milestone narrows the gap to launch and the attempted precision landing at Nobile.

The stakes are significant for the Pittsburgh-based firm after Peregrine Mission One failed to reach the Moon last year due to a propellant leak and later burned up on reentry, an outcome that the company says sharpened their focus on ground testing and flight-like rehearsals ahead of Griffin-1.

Today’s schedule update marks the clearest timing guide since mid-2025, when NASA’s CLPS page last summarized the mission.

Astrobotic also reports its flight avionics are assembled and accepted for flight, and a “closed-loop” landing rehearsal is running on the ground. Using the company’s LunaRay software to generate real-time images and 3D point-clouds of the terrain, the testbed feeds data into Griffin’s Terrain Relative Navigation and Hazard Detection & Avoidance algorithms—critical for an autonomous touchdown in a place where GPS doesn’t exist.

About Griffin-1

Griffin-1 is Astrobotic’s follow-on to the failed Peregrine demo and is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) line of deliveries supporting Artemis-era science at the south pole. NASA previously confirmed that after the VIPER rover was canceled in 2024, the Griffin task order would continue as a lander and engine flight demonstration on a reconfigured manifest—an approach that today’s update effectively advances toward with engine qualification now underway.

The lander’s propulsion system is built around four composite-overwrapped propellant tanks, designed to stay lightweight while holding high-pressure loads. With the tank installs and remaining harness work finished, Griffin will move into environmental acceptance tests—vibration, thermal vacuum and other checks—to certify the vehicle for launch and lunar operations.

The payload manifest remains anchored by Venturi Astrolab’s FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover, which is deep into thermal-vac and integrated functional tests; Astrobotic’s own CubeRover; and BEACON rover (the Benchmark for Engineering and Autonomous Capabilities in Operations and Navigation — a joint lunar surface demonstration from Mission Control and Astrobotic), which has already completed end-to-end “flatsat” simulations with the lander. Secondary cargo now in house includes a Nippon Travel Agency plaque carrying messages from Japanese schoolchildren, a Nanofiche “Galactic Library to Preserve Humanity,” and a sealed MoonBox capsule with items from around the world.