Starpath, a space hardware startup, conducted significant testing of its lunar excavation and traversal rover in August 2025 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The rover is designed for missions to the Moon's polar regions, which are of great scientific interest due to the potential presence of water ice within the lunar regolith.
The rover features a distinctive dual drum barrel engineered for efficient excavation of challenging, hard regolith. These advanced tests took place within the V-20 Thermal Vacuum Chamber at Marshall's Environmental Test Facility, a specialized environment designed to simulate the extreme conditions expected at the lunar South Pole. Starpath's development of this technology was significantly influenced by its participation in NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, where the company secured second place in June 2024. This competition, part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program, aimed to foster innovative solutions for extracting and managing lunar ice, a critical resource for future space exploration.
As of October 2025, Starpath continues to refine its rover's capabilities. The technology is being developed to support NASA's Artemis program, which seeks to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and prepare for eventual Mars exploration. The potential of lunar ice for in-situ resource utilization—providing water, oxygen, and rocket propellant—highlights the importance of Starpath's advancements.
The V-20 chamber, previously used for testing components of the International Space Station and the Orion crew module, provided a crucial simulated space environment for validating Starpath's lunar technologies. The dual drum barrel design, likened to the precise movement of a crab's claws, allows for efficient scraping and collection of regolith in harsh, compacted conditions while conserving energy.