A supercomputer is about to launch to the moon for the 1st time, aboard a rover named FLIP

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — A moon buggy carrying a history-making supercomputer is ready to launch to the lunar surface.

And it's taking some inspiration from Mars.

Later this year, Astrolab will launch its uncrewed moon rover FLIP to the lunar south pole as part of the Griffin Mission 1, or Griffin-1.

The California company is one of two that NASA has selected to develop a drivable rover for the agency's Artemis program.

On board FLIP will be Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) Spaceborne Computer-4, an advanced computer module built to be used in space.

This will be the first time that high-performance computing and artificial intelligence will be tested on the lunar surface.

As NASA gets closer to landing humans back on the moon with Artemis, advancements like this aim to support future human habitation as well as economic activity on and around the moon.

"We're sending the first supercomputer from HPE to the lunar surface later this year, doing the first GPU [graphics processing unit] on the moon [and the] first AI experiments on the moon," Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO of Astrolab, said during an Oct.

14 media event here at Astrolab's headquarters.

"They're breaking new ground, and they're ahead of the curve." The computer is designed to be lightweight, compact, self-contained and fanless.

It has a low-power 64-bit CPU (central processing unit) with a GPU.

The computer will be attached to FLIP's cooling system and will be powered by a system supported by both batteries and solar cells on the rover.

The computer will also be paired with solid state drives from the company KIOXIA that will allow for memory storage.

Mission Control at Astrolab.