Masten Space Systems

Masten Space Systems was a Mojave, California-based rocket company founded in 2004 that pioneered vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket propulsion testbeds and was one of the earliest companies in the NewSpace era to demonstrate precision propulsive landings — years before SpaceX's Falcon 9 boosters popularized the concept. Masten won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the 2009 X-Prize Cup, successfully flying the VTVL demonstration vehicle xB (later xombie) to 50 meters altitude, hovering, translating 100 meters, and landing with precision — demonstrating the core maneuver required for propulsive planetary landings.

Over its history, Masten operated a family of flight-test vehicles named after female astronomers (xombie, xoie, Xodiac, Xaero) at the Mojave Air and Space Port, accumulating thousands of tethered and free-flight VTVL tests for customers including NASA, DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and aerospace prime contractors. These tests made Masten a go-to partner for propulsion and GNC (guidance, navigation, and control) experimental work that needed real flight environment data cheaply and quickly — filling a gap between simulation and expensive dedicated rocket flights.

In 2019, NASA selected Masten Space Systems as a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) provider, awarding the company a contract to deliver scientific instruments to the lunar surface using its planned XL-1 lunar lander. Masten's XL-1 was intended to land on the south polar region of the Moon in 2022, carrying eight NASA instruments studying the lunar south pole environment. However, Masten filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022 — unable to complete the lunar lander development amid cost overruns and financing challenges — before XL-1 ever launched. Astrobotic Technology acquired Masten's assets, including flight vehicles, intellectual property, and team members, in August 2022, integrating Masten's propulsion and GNC expertise into Astrobotic's lunar lander programs.