From Pittsburgh to the moon. That’s the plan developed by a North Side-based lunar logistics company that is looking at next year’s calendar to set a date for sending the first commercial mission to the moon and the first American spacecraft to soft land there since the Apollo missions.
The full-scale spacecraft assembly and integration facility inconspicuously located near a fast-food drive-thru in the city’s Chateau section is an example of the “amazing technology and innovation that’s happening right here in Pittsburgh,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Thursday during a visit to Astrobotic that capped off a two-day trip that included the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council.
“It’s incredible the transformation that has happened in the city over the past few decades,” Ms. Raimondo said. “I will tell you, having spent a couple of days here, I’m a believer.”
The secretary, joined by Mayor Bill Peduto and the company’s CEO John Thornton, spoke in a large, airy room where a wall of windows revealed two flight decks recently built for Peregrine Mission One. The small-scale lunar lander — about 6 feet tall — will be launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2022 while Astrobotic’s personnel direct the roughly 45-day unmanned flight from a control room located inside its 47,000-square-foot North Side facility.
Scientific instruments, experiments, technology demonstrations and even memorabilia — including an art project from Carnegie Mellon students — from six different countries will be delivered to the moon on the commercial mission.
“We’re kind of like FedEx or DHL,” said Ander Solorzano, lead systems engineer and Peregrine flight director. “We land them on the moon, and once on the moon, we become like a power station.”
The lander will provider power and communication infrastructure for scientists to receive data during the length of the mission, which will last one lunar day — roughly eight to 10 days in Earth time.
Ms. Raimondo and Mr. Peduto used the visit to tout President Joe Biden’s economic agenda that the administration says would create jobs, including those in tech and clean energy.
“It’s the hundreds of companies that are part of the supply chain for Astrobotic that will help to rebuild southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s not only the people coming out of Carnegie Mellon with Ph.D.s. It’s the trained, skilled workers with the GEDs that will come out of parts of our city and our rural areas who will be called upon to use their skills to make the parts to make this happen,” Mr. Peduto said.
The White House is hoping to “quadruple” the size of the manufacturing programs administered through the U.S. Department of Commerce that partner with small- and medium-sized manufacturers. “just like many of the ones here in Pittsburgh,” Ms. Raimondo said.
“For too long, America hasn’t invested in manufacturing,” Ms. Raimondo said. “The president is calling for big investments to stimulate our manufacturing sector.”
The secretary also joined Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and U.S. Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai on Thursday for a tour of Argo AI, a self-driving vehicle startup based in the Strip District.
The officials met Wednesday with European dignitaries at Mill 19 in Hazelwood Green, a redeveloped industrial site that now serves as a hub for tech and innovation in the city.
Astrobotic was founded in 2007 as a start-up company out of Carnegie Mellon University.
CORRECTION: A previous version of the story incorrectly spelled the name of Astrobotic CEO John Thornton.
Ashley Murray: amurray@post-gazette.com
First Published: September 30, 2021, 10:37 p.m.
