Revolutionary Rocket to Propel Historic US Moon Landing Mission with Commercial Lander
Embarking on an extraordinary journey, a groundbreaking rocket prepares to launch the first US lunar lander in decades, reviving the spirit of Apollo missions Explore the scientific advancements, the fierce space race, and the incredible inclusion of human remains and mementos
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The success of the rocket, developed by the joint venture United Launch Alliance of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is crucial to the company's future and its goal to challenge SpaceX's dominance in the commercial launch industry.
Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic Technology has built a lunar lander that could be the first commercially developed spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the moon. NASA has sponsored the development of a fleet of privately developed lunar landers, with the aim of establishing a US presence on the moon in response to the new international space race that intensified in 2023.
The success of the NASA program does not rely on the outcome of a single lander's touchdown. However, this initial robotic mission will establish the direction and speed for the space agency's renewed push to explore the moon with robots before attempting to send astronauts back to the lunar surface later in the 2020s. Astrobotic's robotic lunar lander, Peregrine, is set to be launched aboard the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. ET on Monday.
Recent forecasts showed about an 85% chance the weather will be clear for takeoff. Backup launch opportunities are also available over the next few days.
On November 21, 2023, Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander is pictured getting ready to be enclosed in the payload fairing, or nose cone, of the Vulcan rocket by United Launch Alliance.
The path ahead
Experts across the space industry, including Astrobotic CEO John Thornton, have likened the odds of successfully landing any spacecraft on the moon to flipping a coin.
"It's a bit like a 50-50 chance at scoring a goal, where the focus is on the industry succeeding as a whole, rather than any individual mission," Thornton explained in a phone interview with CNN on January 2.
However, Thornton emphasized, "we've given our all to this mission."
The process of landing on the moon is a highly intricate undertaking.
If the launch proceeds as planned on Monday, the Vulcan Centaur will propel the lunar lander towards the moon, placing it into a trans-lunar injection orbit. This involves a precisely timed engine burn that will propel the Peregrine lander onto an Earth orbit path that will synchronize it with the moon, which is approximately 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles) away.
NASA TV
NASAs most daring mission in years and other groundbreaking space expeditions set for 2024. Following launch, the Peregrine lander will detach from the rocket and navigate independently using onboard thrusters to reach a precise trajectory towards the moon, starting about an hour after liftoff.
Upon arriving at the moon, Peregrine, named after the fastest-flying bird, will orbit before attempting to land on February 23. The landing site is a patch on the near-side surface, and the lander will test technology for more precise landings on future missions.
is underway as different countries and companies vie to successfully land spacecraft on the lunar surface. The recent failures highlight the immense challenge of safely navigating a vehicle to touchdown on the moon.
This mission will mark the first lunar landing attemptrobotic or crewedfor the US in five decades.
And the mission comes amid a renewed international push to explore the moon.
Both Ispace and Russia's Roscosmos space agency failed in their lunar landing attempts last year, but India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed in August. With this achievement, India became the fourth nation, after China, the former Soviet Union, and the United States, to land a vehicle on the moon. As of now, only India and China have achieved soft landings in the 21st century.
The Japan Exploration Aerospace Agency, or JAXA, could complete its first lunar landing this month, using its "Moon Sniper" spacecraft thats already been en route for months.
On October 16, 2021, NASA's Lucy spacecraft, carried by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, was launched from Pad-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission aims to study the Trojan asteroids in the outer solar system. (Photo credit: Thom Baur/Reuters)
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However, NASA aims to quickly make up ground by utilizing commercially developed robotic landers that it has supported. In addition to Peregrine, the space agency has agreements with Texas-based companies Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines, the latter of which could potentially launch its lunar lander as early as mid-February.
The contracts, which are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, are intended to significantly reduce the cost of constructing a lunar lander, especially in comparison to the multibillion-dollar effort required for the Apollo-era lander.
Peregrine and the other CLPS landers are designed to be much more affordable, with NASA only agreeing to pay its partner companies a single fixed-price contract.
Astrobotics' contract for this mission totaled $108 million, surpassing NASA's initial promise. However, agency officials stated that the contract was renegotiated due to the pandemic.
"This is one of several cost-effective missions aimed at reaching the lunar surface in an effort to break the existing paradigm and establish a new price point," Thornton informed CNN.
Other CLPS robotic moon missions scheduled for 2024 may include a golf cart-sized rover on Astrobotic's Griffin lunar lander. The rover will explore the lunar south pole in search of water ice, a crucial component in the 21st-century space race. Water ice is essential for sustaining future astronaut colonies and can also be converted into rocket fuel for missions into deeper space.
mission is crucial in paving the way for human exploration of the moon under the Artemis program, with NASA targeting a mission to fly by the moon by late 2024, followed by a return of humans to the lunar surface later in the decade.
The Astrobotics Peregrine lander is on its way to the lunar region known as Sinus Viscositatis, or "Bay of Stickiness," as an homage to the nearby Gruithuisen Domes. This unique lunar feature is suspected to have been formed by sticky magma, making it a particularly intriguing destination for this mission.
The stunning Perseid meteor shower lights up the night sky above the Red Church and Guzelyurt Monastery Valley in Aksaray, Turkey, on August 12, 2023. This long exposure photograph captures the celestial event in all its glory. (Photo by Aytug Can Sencar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Aytug Can Sencar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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The Peregrine lander is equipped to carry 10 science payloads, with five being NASA-sponsored experiments. Among them are two instruments designed to monitor the radiation environment, with the aim of enhancing preparations for future crewed missions to the moon, according to Paul Niles, NASA's project scientist for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, during a press briefing on Thursday.
In addition to this, other instruments sent by the space agency will analyze the composition of lunar soil, specifically searching for water and hydroxyl molecules. NASA's research will also focus on studying the extremely thin atmosphere of the moon.
will be collected by the Peregrine vehicle and operated on the moon's surface for approximately 10 days until the region is enveloped in lunar night, rendering the instruments inoperable due to the extreme cold.
NASA is the main funder of the mission, but there are multiple other customers involved. Peregrine will also carry science experiments and commercial cargo from other countries such as Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
Astrobotic collaborates with DHL, a German shipping company, to transport various items to space, ranging from photographs and novels to student work and a piece of Mount Everest. Additionally, the Peregrine will transport human remains for two commercial space burial companies, Elysium Space and Celestis, a decision that has been met with opposition from the Navajo Nation, the largest group of Native Americans in the United States.
Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander is encapsulated with Ula's Vulcan rocket.
Astrobotic Technology
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The group argues that allowing the remains to come into contact with the lunar surface would disrespect many Indigenous cultures who consider the moon sacred. Celestis is offering to transport ashes to the moon for prices beginning at approximately $13,000, as stated on its website.
According to Astrobotic CEO Thornton, the landing attempt will be a surreal moment and the culmination of 16 years of effort by the company's employees.
During Astrobotics' journey, the most challenging obstacle to overcome was convincing others that a Pittsburgh-based company with fewer than 300 employees could create a lunar lander. "We faced a lot of doubt and ridicule," he admitted.
But Thornton is hopeful that success will lead to a burgeoning lunar economy, helping NASA achieve its goals while also inspiring the commercial sector to pursue possibilities on the moon.
