The U.S., Soviet Union, and Japan have all sent robots to the moon over the past 50 years. Now, a group of college students is joining in by building a shoebox-sized rover that they plan to launch in May, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The lunar rover, called Iris, will be the first privately-made American robot to explore the surface of the moon, according to the project’s website. But that’s not all—it would also be the first student-built rover, and the smallest and lightest one yet. Around 300 students from Carnegie Mellon University have all pitched in on the project.
"Hundreds of students have poured thousands of hours into Iris. We've worked for years toward this mission, and to have a launch date on the calendar is an exciting step," Raewyn Duvall, the program manager for Iris told CMU.
The Iris Lunar Rover team did not immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
Iris is tiny and weighs 2 kgs (4.4 lbs)—but the design is deliberately small. The rover will fly on a private rocket carrying 14 payloads to the moon, which includes Iris, projects for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as some humans. The project involved around 300 students, who will also control and operate Moonshot Mission Control, the control center for Iris based in CMU’s campus in Pittsburgh.
Look at @CMU_Robotics's Iris Lunar Rover on Peregrine, ready to be on our way #ToTheMoon! 🚀🌔#studentsuccess #Moonshot https://t.co/AI5sURol6z
— Iris Lunar Rover (by Carnegie Mellon University) (@cmu_iris) October 14, 2022
