Masten Space Systems

With temperatures as cold as to -232 °C, the lunar night is not a friendly place for electronics. Space technology company Masten has developed a more efficient, safer system that uses chemical reactions to keep lander electronics warm until dawn.

Masten Space Systems is working on a way to protect future lunar landers from the regolith thrown up by their engines as they land, by using their engine plume to create their own landing pads just before touchdown.

Masten Space Systems is developing a robotic rover that could one day mine water on the Moon using rocket blasts. The Rocket M rover uses rocket pulses to break up ice-bearing lunar soil and collect up to 100 kg of ice particles per day.

NASA has awarded a US$75.9-million contract to Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California, to produce and operate eight lunar mission payloads, including nine science and technology instruments to scout the Moon's south pole.

In anticipation of more ambitious planetary missions, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with Masten Space Systems have recently tested new landing technologies using a vehicle called the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed.

It takes a lot more money and preparation to launch a rocket than to have a plane take off. That's why DARPA first initiated its Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. The agency has now announced its plans for Phase 1 of the program.

NASA has announced the selection of three US companies to develop a lunar lander to deliver payloads to the Moon’s surface – Astrobotic Technology, Masten Space Systems, and Moon Express.

The Masten Xaero reusable suborbital rocket, an outgrowth of the Lunar Landing Challenge winner, carried out a highly successful test flight.