Team AngelicvM is a private company based in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

that plans to deploy a small

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. In 2024 their rover, called ''Unity'', was one of the various lunar rovers that were carried by the commercial '' Peregrine'' lander. ''Peregrine'', which was manufactured by Astrobotic Technology experienced a propellant leak after launch which led to it burning in Earth's atmosphere, never reaching the moon.

History

Team AngelicvM was created in 2010 in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, with the purpose to compete for the

Google Lunar X Prize The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a lunar rover on t ...

.Team AngelicvM Will Fly with Astrobotic on First Lunar Mission
. Astrobotic Technology Press Release. 27 October 2015. This international competition offered US$20 million for the first privately developed rover to land on the Moon, travel at least 500 meters, and transmit high-definition video and images back to Earth. Since no team was able to make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the 31 March 2018 deadline, the Google Lunar XPRIZE went unclaimed and the competition ended without a winner, but AngelicvM plans to go ahead with the rover's development and launch. Team AngelicvM is financed by AngelicvM Foundation (''Inversiones AngelicvM''); its owner and President is Gerardo Rocha-Haardt, who by 2012 had financed about US$3 million. Rocha-Haardt explained that since there is no space agency in Chile, he hopes to inspire and stimulate the private sector's participation in the outer space economy.Chile's first lunar rover nears completion
. Chile's Education, Science, and Technology NEWS. 18 December 2012. Rocha-Haardt invited all Chilean universities to participate in the project. They were joined by the

Universidad de Concepción Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

and Universidad Austral de Chile, who are developing the rover.El Team AngelicvM presentó su rover AngelicvM 1
Felipe Campos ''Cosmo Noticias''. 27 June 2013. (in Spanish). AngelicvM signed a contract with Astrobotic Technology in 2015 to have their rover carried on board Astrobotic's ''Peregrine'' lander, and in July 2017, Astrobotic announced an agreement had been reached with

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American launch service provider formed in December 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company designs, assembles, sells and launches rockets ...

for the launch. As of May 2018, Astrobotic's first ''Peregrine'' lander mission is reported to have 12 customers, and is planned to be launched in 2020 on an

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...

rocket. The selected landing site is Lacus Mortis. The lander's commercial payload include Team Hakuto's rover.

''Unity'' rover

The first rover's concept was called ''Dandelion''. Its body was spherical of about 10 cm in diameterLa silenciosa carrera espacial chilena
Valentina Echeverría, ''Km Zero.'' Accessed : 4 August 2018. (in Spanish) with a flat top and bottom. It uses two bilateral "legged" wheels for traction and it keeps upright by a

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

. This light traction concept was inspired by insect legs, and it was considered because that is what all insects evolved for efficient displacement on uneven surfaces.Dandelion rover
. Robotic & Environmental Algorithms Laboratory (REAL). Accessed: 4 August 2018. Adding some flexibility to each blade/leg, it imitates the tendon in the insect leg and holds potential energy for better traction. Preliminary tests performed in Chile's Atacama desert were reported to surpass their predicted expectations. AngelicvM's current rover concept is a 5 kg, four-wheeled rover called ''Unity''. The team has 34 members, all professionals and mostly volunteers. Their transmission to Earth will be a high-definition music video that carries "a message of faith, hope, peace and unity to the World.

References

External links

AngelicvM FoundationImages of 4 ''Dandelion'' rover concepts
{{Future spaceflights Google Lunar X Prize Proposed space probes Lunar rovers Peregrine Payloads