“Carnegie Mellon University Students’ Lunar Rover Iris to Reach Moon Before NASA’s Artemis II”

JAKARTA – A special robot or rover made by 300 students from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) will reach the moon earlier than the Artemis II aircraft belonging to the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It is planned that the rover, named Iris, will fly from Earth to the moon on May 4, 2023.

Once on the moon, Iris, which according to Live Science is only the size of a shoebox, will be the first rover to reach the moon in 65 years. Interestingly, the manufacture and delivery of Iris does not involve NASA at all.

Iris was created entirely by Carnegie Mellon University students. During the manufacturing process they were assisted by lecturers and alumni. For three years the development process was carried out and finally it will undergo a flight procession on May 4, 2023.

On the other hand, NASA’s moon landing program, Artemis II just made the flight in November 2024. This means that the robots made by the students will know beforehand that they will reach the moon.

“We gave everything for this. Now success on the moon depends on this robot,” said Raewyn Duvall, Program Manager for Iris from Carnegie Mellon University.

The arrival of Iris in the next month will actually be an interesting note. The reason is that the rover will arrive earlier than the Artemis II spacecraft which will go to the moon next year.

At that time Artemis II will also bring a special rover called VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). It’s just that when compared in terms of dimensions and technology, Iris is very much different from VIPER.