Analogue mission

SKAFFEN-01

A lunar analogue mission: crews and a GCU-equipped rover working side by side, under realistic Earth–Moon communication delays.

All missions

SKAFFEN-01 is our planned lunar analogue mission, designed to fly with an analogue astronaut program. Analogue crews direct a GCU-equipped rover in natural language during simulated lunar EVAs. Meanwhile, a simulated mission control team works through CONTACT under realistic Earth–Moon communication delays, so the crew and GCU must make decisions on site.

Environment
Lunar analogue
Crew
Analogue astronauts
Partner
Seeking
Target timing
Q1 2027

How it works

Crew direct the rover
During EVAs, analogue astronauts tell the rover what to do in natural language, as they would a teammate.
Mission control at a distance
A simulated mission control team directs and reviews the mission through CONTACT, with realistic Earth–Moon delays on every message.
Decisions on site
With the ground seconds away, GCU and the crew decide locally, within limits mission control sets in advance.

What a partner program gets

A rover teammate
An autonomous rover for EVAs that crews direct in natural language, with no specialist operator.
A realistic control loop
Earth–Moon communication delays built into mission control, for more realistic crew training.
Research-grade logs
Every EVA recorded end to end: crew instructions, the rover's decisions and its reasons, ready for human-factors research.

Run an analogue astronaut program?

We're looking for an analogue astronaut program to fly SKAFFEN-01 with. If you run one, we'd like to talk.

Get in touch