Getting to the Moon was the first chapter. Interlune and Astrolab are working on how to operate there.
Updated
March 6, 2026 1:32 AM
Apollo 17 Astronaut's Snapshot of Taurus-Littrow Valley. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
As plans for a long-term human presence on the Moon pick up pace, the focus is shifting from landing there to working there. It is one thing to reach the surface. It is another to build roads, prepare sites and extract materials in a way that can support real activity.
That is where Interlune and Astrolab come in. Interlune is a space resources company. Astrolab builds planetary rovers. The two are now working together to mount Interlune’s lunar digging system onto Astrolab’s Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover. They have completed a concept study and are planning hardware testing in Houston.
The aim is straightforward: combine a rover that can move reliably across the Moon with equipment that can dig, collect and handle lunar soil. Interlune is focused on harvesting natural resources from the Moon, starting with helium-3. To do that at scale, the system cannot sit in one place. It has to move across the surface, handle dust and operate in harsh conditions. "Reliable, autonomous mobility is crucial to the Interlune harvesting system and broader lunar infrastructure development", said Rob Meyerson, co-founder and CEO of Interlune. "Astrolab's FLEX is the right vehicle for the job".
By fitting its digging and collection hardware onto FLEX, Interlune is working toward a mobile system that can gather large amounts of lunar soil and support future construction needs. Beyond helium-3, the same setup could help prepare base sites, level ground, build protective barriers and lay the groundwork for other structures. In simple terms, it is about turning a rover into a working machine for the Moon.
The partnership also connects to Interlune’s work with Vermeer Corporation to develop equipment for continuous, high-volume digging adapted to lunar conditions. Taken together, the goal is to build systems that can support both commercial and government missions — whether that means resource extraction or preparing land for future bases.
For Astrolab, the collaboration strengthens the role of FLEX as more than just a transport vehicle.
"Working with Interlune further differentiates FLEX as the rover of choice for commercial and government Moon missions", said Jaret Matthews, Astrolab founder and CEO. "Interlune's expertise in developing and testing highly specialized regolith simulant will further enhance FLEX's ability to mitigate dust and operate in extreme environments".
Testing will be centered in Houston, which is becoming an important hub for commercial space development. Astrolab was the first company to lease space at the Texas A&M University Space Institute, currently under construction at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Interlune operates the Houston-based Interlune Research Lab, where it creates and tests simulated versions of lunar soil.
That detail matters. Moon dust is fine, abrasive and difficult to manage. Before any hardware flies, it needs to prove it can survive and function in those conditions. By testing their systems in realistic soil simulants, the companies can refine how the rover moves and how the digging system performs.
The Houston lab is partially funded by the Texas Space Commission, reflecting the growing role of regional space initiatives in supporting private companies building beyond Earth. Overall, the collaboration is not about grand promises. It is about integrating hardware, running real tests and taking practical steps toward operating on the Moon.
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Sensing technology is facilitating the transition of drone delivery services from trial phases to regular daily operations.
Updated
January 23, 2026 10:41 AM
A quadcopter drone with package attached. PHOTO: FREEPIK
A new partnership between Hesai Technology, a LiDAR solutions company and Keeta Drone, an urban delivery platform under Meituan, offers a glimpse into how drone delivery is moving from experimentation to real-world scale.
Under the collaboration, Hesai will supply solid-state LiDAR sensors for Keeta’s next-generation delivery drones. The goal is to make everyday drone deliveries more reliable as they move from trials to routine operations. Keeta Drone operates in a challenging space—low-altitude urban airspace. Its drones deliver food, medicine and emergency supplies across cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai. With more than 740,000 deliveries completed across 65 routes, the company has discontinued testing the concept. It is scaling it. For that scale to work, drones must be able to navigate crowded environments filled with buildings, trees, power lines and unpredictable conditions. This is where Hesai’s technology comes in.
Hesai’s solid-state LiDAR is integrated into Keeta's latest long-range delivery drones. LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. In simple terms, it is a sensing technology that helps machines understand their surroundings by sending out laser pulses and measuring how they bounce back. Unlike GPS, LiDAR does not rely solely on satellites to determine position. Instead, it gives drones a direct sense of their surroundings, helping them spot small but critical obstacles like wires or tree branches.
In a recent demonstration, Keeta Drone completed a nighttime flight using LiDAR-based navigation alone without relying on cameras or satellite positioning. This shows how the technology can support stable operations even when visibility is poor or GPS signals are limited.
The LiDAR system used in these drones is Hesai’s second-generation solid-state model known as FTX. Compared with earlier versions, the sensor offers higher resolution while being smaller and lighter—important considerations for airborne systems where weight and space are limited. The updated design also reduces integration complexity, making it easier to incorporate into commercial drone platforms. Large-scale production of the sensor is expected to begin in 2026.
From Hesai’s perspective, delivery drones are one of several forms robots are expected to take in the coming decades. Industry forecasts suggest robots will increasingly appear in many roles from industrial systems to service applications, with drones becoming a familiar part of urban infrastructure rather than a novelty.
For Keeta Drone, this improves safety and reliability. And for the broader industry, it signals that drone logistics is entering a more mature phase—one defined less by experimentation and more by dependable execution. Taken together, the partnership highlights a practical evolution in drone delivery.
As cities grow more complex, the question is no longer whether drones can fly but whether they can do so reliably, safely and at scale. At its core, this partnership is not about drones or sensors as products. It is about what it takes to make a complex system work quietly in real cities. As drone delivery moves out of pilot zones and into everyday use, reliability matters more than novelty.