PTScientists

PTScientists (Part-Time Scientists), founded in 2008 in Berlin, Germany, was a pioneering private lunar mission company that emerged from the amateur scientist and maker community — its name reflecting founders who initially worked on lunar mission development as a side project outside their day jobs — and became one of the most technically advanced Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP) teams before restructuring as commercial lunar mission development became a full-time commercial enterprise.

PTScientists developed the ALINA (Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module) lunar lander — a four-legged, propulsively landed spacecraft designed to deliver payloads of up to 25 kg to the lunar surface, using a bipropellant propulsion system and laser-based terrain relative navigation for precise hazard avoidance during final descent. In partnership with Audi, PTScientists developed the 'Audi lunar quattro' rover — a four-wheeled, solar-powered rover with stereoscopic cameras, designed to drive on the lunar surface and transmit HD imagery back to Earth. The Audi partnership provided both engineering resources and significant marketing visibility for what was otherwise a community-funded team.

PTScientists' mission concept aimed to land near the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow valley and drive the Audi lunar quattro past the original Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle — a technically and culturally resonant mission goal that generated substantial media attention. The team secured a launch contract with SpaceX for a Falcon 9 rideshare before the GLXP competition expired without a winner in 2018 after all teams failed to launch by the deadline.

Following the GLXP conclusion, PTScientists restructured financially and continued development under new ownership, with technology and personnel contributing to Germany's broader commercial lunar mission ecosystem — including connections to the lunar transportation companies and payload integrators that emerged post-GLXP including Astrobotic and ispace.