Astrobotic vs Firefly Aerospace: Landers, rovers & surface transport compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Firefly Aerospace ranks 13 on the Space 100 with a score of 83; Astrobotic ranks 73 with 68. Firefly Aerospace is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, progress, technology, positioning and firepower. Level on leverage. Astrobotic is based in Pittsburgh, United States, Firefly Aerospace in Cedar Park, United States. Astrobotic: Private, founded 2007. Firefly Aerospace: Public, founded 2017. Astrobotic is named in 67 signals and Firefly Aerospace in 437.

Astrobotic →

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States · Space · Planetary economy / Landers, rovers & surface transport · Private · founded 2007 · www.astrobotic.com

Astrobotic builds and operates lunar landers, including Peregrine and Griffin-1, to deliver NASA and commercial payloads to the Moon.

Space 100 · rank 73 · score 68

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment8
Production4
Commercials7
Progress9
Technology6
Positioning6
Firepower8
Leverage6

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Astrobotic is a US lunar-logistics company (now a Voyager subsidiary after a July 2026 acquisition of up to $300M) with >$600M in cumulative NASA and DoD contracts, whose Peregrine-1 became America's first commercial lunar lander in space in January 2024 (a propellant anomaly prevented landing). It continues the Griffin lander plus lunar power infrastructure (LunaGrid) and rovers, and won two new CLPS task orders in June 2026 (Peregrine-2 and Peregrine-3 to the Gruithuisen Domes by end-2028), NASA's confidence restatement after the Peregrine-1 failure. Its IP is being consolidated into Voyager's Moon Base strategic initiative.

Latest signals

  • HPE plans to send its Spaceborne Computer 4 to the Moon by year-end 2026.ZDNet Korea
  • Griffin-1 lunar lander is ready for launch to the MoonHeise
  • Astrobotic reported divided member views on the FCC’s ban on new foreign-produced mobile robots.The Robot Report

67 signals name Astrobotic.

Facts, with sources

  • Moon Base task-order missions scheduled to launch in 2028 and deliver NASA payloads to Gruithuisen DomesAstrobotic
  • Moon Base task-order missions scheduled to launch in 2028 to the Gruithuisen DomesAstrobotic
  • Moon Base task-order missions scheduled for 2028 to deliver three NASA-sponsored payloads on PeregrineAstrobotic

194 facts on file.

Firefly Aerospace →

Cedar Park, Texas, United States · Space · Planetary economy / Landers, rovers & surface transport · Public · founded 2017 · fireflyspace.com

Firefly operates the Alpha launch vehicle and is planning recurring launches from Wallops and Esrange, including two contracted Alpha launches in 2028.

Space 100 · rank 13 · score 83

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment10
Production6
Commercials8
Progress10
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower9
Leverage6

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Firefly Aerospace is a US launch and lunar company (Nasdaq:FLY) whose Blue Ghost Mission 1 was the first fully successful commercial lunar landing (March 2025), now executing five lunar missions in parallel plus the Alpha launch vehicle and Elytra spacecraft line, with FY26 guidance of $420-450M and a record $1.5B backlog. It posted the strongest space Q2 of the season (Q2-26 revenue of $117.7M, +659% YoY, its first >$100M quarter), made an $855M SciTec acquisition (national-security software) plus a Space-ng acquisition, and won NASA, Air Force, and Golden Dome-related work with an NVIDIA collaboration. Its revenue mix is shifting to recurring spacecraft milestones.

Latest signals

  • Firefly Aerospace completed a key design review for NASA’s four-drone Moon mission.Interesting Engineering
  • Mission Control Space Services will supply Rashid Rover 2’s lunar communications link.SpaceQ
  • SSC Space and Firefly Aerospace completed key infrastructure for Alpha launches at Esrange and advanced to final pad construction.SSC Space

437 signals name Firefly Aerospace.

Facts, with sources

  • [object Object]SpaceNews
  • 1418SpaceNews
  • Public company, NASDAQ FLY, IPO August 2025SpaceNews

1592 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

Astrobotic or Firefly Aerospace: which is ahead in space?

Firefly Aerospace ranks 13 on the Space 100 with a score of 83; Astrobotic ranks 73 with 68. Firefly Aerospace is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, progress, technology, positioning and firepower. Level on leverage. Astrobotic is based in Pittsburgh, United States, Firefly Aerospace in Cedar Park, United States. Astrobotic: Private, founded 2007. Firefly Aerospace: Public, founded 2017. Astrobotic is named in 67 signals and Firefly Aerospace in 437.

How do Astrobotic and Firefly Aerospace compare?

Firefly Aerospace ranks 13 on the Space 100 with a score of 83; Astrobotic ranks 73 with 68. Firefly Aerospace is ahead on deployment, production, commercials, progress, technology, positioning and firepower. Level on leverage. Astrobotic is based in Pittsburgh, United States, Firefly Aerospace in Cedar Park, United States. Astrobotic: Private, founded 2007. Firefly Aerospace: Public, founded 2017. Astrobotic is named in 67 signals and Firefly Aerospace in 437. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

Every comparison here comes from the same files members use every day.

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