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Castrol on the Moon

Castrol is collaborating with MIT’s Media Lab, testing our space-grade lubricants as part of their AstroAnts payload programme on the Moon.

Castrol membership supports the AstroAnt payload program

In 2023, Castrol began collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab to support their AstroAnt Payload Programme.

The next 125 years

The AstroAnt Payload Programme.

AstroAnts are miniature swarm robots designed to perform inspections and diagnostic tasks on the external surfaces of spacecraft, rovers and landers.

 

Each featuring a modular design, the AstroAnts’ sensor payloads can be tailored based on the needs of various inspection missions – collecting data that can then be used to monitor operations in space.

Meet the AstroAnt
And in 2025, working with with Lunar Outpost, AstroAnts will travel to the moon for their first technology demonstration test. The AstroAnts payload will be deployed on a Lunar Outpost MAPP rover to the lunar south pole. The MAPP rover will be carried by an Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, all of which will have travelled aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Two key tests and research studies will take place in the run up to the launch. One was in the volcanic landscape of Lanzarote, Spain, examined how well the miniature robots would operate in a terrain that resembled the moon’s vast plains – a follow on test and study will explore how AstroAnt performed in zero-gravity conditions.

Withstanding interstellar conditions with Castrol

Through this unique research collaboration, we’ll work closely with The MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative and Responsive Environments research groups – testing our space-grade lubricants to withstand the extreme environment of the lunar surface.

 

As our lubricants enable the AstroAnts’ motors to function at their best in their mission to collect thermal data and measurements, we’re proud to be part of humanity’s return to the moon alongside both the MIT community and its program partners.

Test, test, test

Did you know?

The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 238,855 miles - a three-day journey in a modern spacecraft, travelling at an average speed of 3,000 miles per hour.

Source: NASA

The surface of the Moon is subject to extreme temperatures, fluctuating between 121°C at the equator in daylight to -133°C after nightfall.

Source: NASA

Each individual AstroAnt robot is equipped with four magnetic wheels, enabling it to attach to any metallic surface and overcome obstacles with an angle of up to 80 degrees.

Source: MIT Media Lab

Who was the first person on the Moon? At 02:56 GMT on 21 July 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon. He stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module and onto the Moon’s surface, in an area called the ‘Sea of Tranquility’.

Source: NASA