NASA Environmental Test Facility employees at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, work with members from the Starpath team to push the sliding platform into the thermal vacuum chamber, with the heavy rover and concrete slab in tow. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Starpath’s rover sits on a concrete slab that will be used to mimic the rugged lunar surface within a vacuum chamber at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on July 30, 2025. The slab features a sandy, rocky terrain, and lamps within the chamber will turn on and off to simulate sunlight. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034

Starpath’s rover freely rests on a concrete slab at the end of a platform at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The large metal structure will slide into the chamber, bringing the rover and concrete slab with it. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

On July 30, 2025, members of the Starpath team discuss what final preparations need to be made before the chamber is closed for testing of their rover at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Starpath mechanical engineer Josh Kavilaveettil monitors a component of the rover, attached to wires, in preparation for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on July 30, 2025. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Starpath’s rover sits atop a concrete slab at the mouth of the thermal vacuum chamber, ready to be closed in and commence testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on July 30, 2025. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Employees from Environmental Test Facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, work with the Starpath team on July 30, 2025, to carefully maneuver the rover onto a platform that will slide the rover into the chamber. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. Their visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. The competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

NASA test engineers with the Environmental Test Facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center situate the rover over the concrete slab that it will operate on before removing the suspension straps that lifted it onto the platform. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. Starpath’s visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Members of the small business Starpath remotely operate the rover and run data in preparation for its entrance to the V20 Thermal Vacuum Chamber at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on July 30, 2025. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. Their visit to NASA Marshall was part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. The competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and transport the icy, rocky dirt – otherwise known as regolith – found on the Moon. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.