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Colmena (Colmena-1, five micro-robots)

Peregrine Mission One · failed to land · commercial payload

A 608 g payload: five disk-shaped micro-rovers (about 56 g and 12 cm each, solar panels on both faces) and a deck module that holds them, catapults them 10-15 m from the lander and relays their data. On the Moon the rovers were to test miniature electronics and mechanics and probe the dusty plasma layer just above the surface, as a first step toward robot swarms for prospecting and mining.

PI: Gustavo Medina-Tanco (UNAM)
Built by: Laboratory of Space Instrumentation (LINX), Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), with about 250 students; supported by the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) (university)
Technology micro-rover swarm (technology demonstration and plasma probe)
Moon Base need DN-011 L, DN-009 L (The study's reading, and weak. No NASA source ties Colmena to a Moon Base need. Its science aim was the dusty plasma layer near the surface and how it charges and affects small machines and radio links: the subjects of DN-011 L (surface plasma) and DN-009 L (electrostatic properties of regolith), which NASA asks for at the South Pole. Peregrine aimed at a mid-latitude site.)
Route onto CLPS commercial; Flown as an Astrobotic customer, outside NASA's task order; NASA's press kit counts 15 payloads from other customers. In June (2015, per the search result; the saved excerpt shows no year) Astrobotic announced an agreement to carry a payload from Mexico's space agency; the saved excerpt does not name Colmena. When Colmena itself was booked is not in public sources.
Timeline first funding not in public sources; first flight test not in public sources; selected not in public sources (an Astrobotic agreement with Mexico's space agency was announced in June, year not in the saved excerpt); launch 2024-01-08; landing not in public sources
On the Moon partly operated
FO none

Flights before the Moon

None found in the public sources.

Heritage hardware

  • new design: A new design for this mission: 3D-printed rovers with embedded magnetic sensors, and new low-mass radiation-protection approaches in place of traditional shielding. Ground tests at UNAM and acceptance tests for Peregrine and the launcher only. No earlier flight of Colmena hardware was found.

"no traditional shielding can be used and new approaches had to be developed and implemented"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, section 5

"both at our facilities and for acceptance for integration on the Peregrine and on the launcher"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, section 6, Conclusions

Funding before the lunar flight

  • UNAM (PAPIIT research grants), the Mexican Space Agency through the former AEM-CONACYT sector fund, Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State of Hidalgo, and industrial partners. No amounts in public sources; no US federal funding found. (UNAM PAPIIT; AEM-CONACYT; SRE; State of Hidalgo; not in public sources): amount not in public sources

"We thank the support and cooperation in Colmena1of UNAM through PAPIIT projects, AEM-CONACyT,"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, Acknowledgements

"a través del extinto Fondo Sectorial AEM-CONACYT"
— De la UNAM a la Luna: lista ya la Misión COLMENA - Gaceta UNAM, Gaceta UNAM, 4 Jan 2024

How it got onto CLPS

"Peregrine will also carry 15 payloads from other customers, unrelated to NASA"
— NASA press kit, Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative: Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One…

"announced June 10 it had signed an agreement to carry a payload provided by Mexico's space agency to the moon"
— Astrobotic Signs Agreement With Mexican Space Agency - SpaceNews, SpaceNews, paywalled excerpt

On the Moon

The rovers could not be deployed. Colmena was not meant to run in transit, but the team turned it on outside the magnetosphere, tried all operating modes, and tested telecommunications, resilience to radiation upsets and the thermal design during most of the 10 days. The team counts 75% of its technical objectives met and is using the results for Colmena-2, planned for about 2028.

"validate up to 75% of the technological objectives of the mission in deep space, at 400 thousand km from Earth"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, abstract

"Colmena-1 payload was not originally intended to be turned-on and operated during the cruising phase."
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, section 5

FO's role

Grade: none. No FO project, flight or report names Colmena, LINX, UNAM or its PI (searched FO's 430 TechPort records and its reports; the only matches were New Mexico organizations). Colmena is a foreign university payload; FO's calls are for US entities, so none was expected.

Who built it

"Laboratory of Space Instrumentation, LINX, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, author line (IAC-24 paper)

"A research team led by Dr. Gustavo Medina Tanco from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) will launch five mirco-robots to the moon"
— UNAM researchers to send micro-robots to the moon - The Robot Report

"Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM), the Mexican Space Agency, attempted to fly the first Latin American scientific instruments to the surface of the Moon"
— Wikipedia article "Peregrine Mission One", revision 1368288193 of 2026-08-08T04:52:48Z, Wikipedia, revision of 8 Aug 2026

Moon Base need

"Measure the plasma environment at the lunar south pole"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-011 L: In situ lunar surface plasma environment characterization, Description

"The scientific objective of the RS was to study both basic properties of the dusty plasma limit layer and the surface layer"
— Validation of the lunar mission Colmena-1 in deep space (G. Medina-Tanco, LINX, UNAM; IAC-24-A3,2…, section 4

Open questions

  • When and how did UNAM book Colmena on Peregrine, and was the 2015 AEM agreement with Astrobotic for Colmena? Not in public sources (the SpaceNews article is paywalled).
  • Colmena-1's cost and Astrobotic's price: not in public sources.
  • Did any Colmena prototype fly before Peregrine (balloon, aircraft, rocket)? Not in public sources.
  • Which of Colmena-1's objectives make up the 75% the team reports as met? The paper does not list them.