McKim & Creed provided MEP and structural design services for the new Astrobotic facility. Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh, designs and builds lunar landers and rovers for space exploration. The new facility, situated in a high-profile area, is visible from many directions in the downtown Pittsburgh area.
The original building was constructed in the 1950s to serve as a post office maintenance facility. The new facility incorporated as many of the existing MEP systems as possible, supplemented with special systems for clean rooms, a mission control center and meeting rooms. The facility includes a vacuum chamber capable of holding prototype equipment in conditions that simulate the vacuum and near-absolute-zero temperatures of space.
Another area will allow for test flight of lunar landers that will operate similarly to drones. The landers will carry small rovers that will be released to the surface. The navigation of the equipment will be controlled from the mission control room of the client’s new facility.
(Photos courtesy of AE7)