
First showing of Monaco lunar rover
Venturi Astrolab has shown its FLEX (Flexible Logistics and Exploration) lunar rover for the first time at its labs in Monaco.
Prince Albert II of Monaco visited the Venturi Group’s Monegasque headquarters to see the rover, developed by Venturi Astrolab in the US with Venturi Lab in Switzerland and Venturi in Monaco
FLEX will be the largest and most advanced lunar vehicle ever made and the plan is to land it on the surface of the Moon by SpaceX in 2026.
Venturi Group in Monaco develops high performance batteries and is working with its US subsidiary, Venturi North America based in Ohio on the test phase of the rover. Venturi Lab creates materials resistant to extreme conditions of low temperatures and radiation, high-performance solar panels, deformable wheels and electrical control systems. It also manages relations with ESA. Venturi Astrolab designs the vehicle architecture, its primary structure and mechanisms, develops its software and avionics, assembles it, and conducts system validation testing.
- Moon test for experimental solid-state battery
- First view of Toyota’s “Lunar Cruiser”
- Wireless charging on the Moon
Venturi Lab was co-founded in 2021 by Gildo Pastor and Dr. Antonio Delfino in Corminboeuf in the Canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The team is made up of experienced engineers, chemists and physicists who hold over 250 accumulated patents in the fields of electromobility, fuel cells, materials science, composite materials, processes, software engineering, computer science, space mobility and polymer science.
“Over the past two decades the Venturi Group has developed some truly unique, high performance electric vehicles,” said Gildo Pastor, President of the Venturi Group and co-founder of Venturi Lab (above) with Prince Albert II.
“We are proud to be a strategic partner of Venturi Astrolab in its work in designing and developing the FLEX rover. Upon completion of this mission, the FLEX rover will be the largest and most capable rover ever to travel to the Moon.”
