by A pair of companies are planning to send unmanned spacecraft to the moon within weeks of each other early next year in a NASA-funded effort that could mark the first soft landings for the United States on the lunar surface since last time of the Apollo missions i. 1972.
But in a sign of how the commercial space industry is transforming exploration, the companies are also vying for another historic first: to be the first private enterprise to land on the moon.
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On January 8, Astrobotic, a company based in Pittsburgh, is scheduled to launch its Peregrine spacecraft on the inaugural launch of the Vulcan rocket, which is operated by the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Then, in mid-February, from another pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida, Intuitive Machines is going to launch its landing on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The missions are part of NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to return astronauts to the lunar surface. But these missions are part of an effort called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, aimed at sending cargo and scientific experiments to the moon. In announcing the program five years ago, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he wanted to take advantage of private industry’s ability to go quickly and inexpensively. “What we’re doing here is speed,” he said at the time.
Several companies are eligible to compete for contracts worth $2.6 billion over 10 years. And after many years of delay, the first missions are finally happening, with more to come.
“This is an exciting time,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an interview. “These guys can be scouts for the astronauts we’re going to land on the moon. And we can learn things about the moon that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise because these many landings couldn’t have been we.”
It is not clear which company would land first. Astrobotic said in a release that if it launches as scheduled on January 8, its spacecraft would touch down on February 23. A spokesperson for Intuitive Machines said the company expects to land “about seven days after launch.” Its launch date was scheduled for January 12, but was moved back to mid-February due to “unfavorable weather conditions as a result of changes in the SpaceX launch performance.” The company has not yet released an exact launch or landing date.
The missions come as several nations have sent spacecraft to the moon in recent years. And the Japanese space agency expects its robotic lander, launched on September 7, to touch down on January 19. That would make it the fifth country to land on the moon and come just months after India in a successful craft on. the lunar surface in August.
But landing on the moon is risky – and many have tried and failed in the past. Earlier this year, ispace, a Japanese company, lost a spacecraft while trying to land on the moon. Russia also lost a spacecraft trying to land on the moon this year.
In recent years, China has sent a fleet of spacecraft to the moon, starting with orbiters in 2007 and again in 2010. Then, in 2013, it landed the Chang’e 3 spacecraft, becoming the first nation to land on it. the moon ago. the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
In early 2019, China made history by landing the first spacecraft on the side of the moon. And in 2020 it brought back samples from the moon’s surface as another significant demonstration of its growing ambitions.
Under the Artemis program, NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon in the coming years, possibly as early as 2025, but likely later. After successfully launching the Orion spacecraft unmanned around the moon last year, he is planning a lunar flyby mission with astronauts. That was originally scheduled for late next year, but Nelson said the timeline could slip into 2025. “They’re going through all kinds of testing,” he said, adding that he plans to the space agency will provide an update on the schedule “early in the New Year.”
But before that, NASA hopes to make some robotic landings to pave the way. In addition to the two schedules for early this year, NASA is planning to send its first robotic rover to the moon on an Astrobotic spacecraft. Called VIPER (for Volatiles Investigation Polar Exploration Rover), the golf cart-sized vehicle would be outfitted with a drill to search for water in the form of ice near the lunar south pole.
“If all this works, it is a great tool to support people on the surface of the moon but also to carry out exciting scientific and commercial activities in ways that cannot be achieved otherwise,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, former head of department NASA science. oversight of the program.
Still, he said, the approach to partnering with the commercial sector for such missions “needs to be proven,” and landing on the moon is an extremely difficult task. He estimated that the chance of success on any mission is about 50 percent. But if two companies are going for it at the same time it increases the chances that an American spacecraft will be on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told reporters recently that he was well aware of the risks. “It’s definitely a daunting challenge,” he said. “I mean, I’ll be scared and happy all at the same time every step.”
While he said there is a competition to get to the moon first, he said the main objective is to “create the movement of commercial deliveries to the surface. one – we need this industry to succeed. We need this program to succeed.”
Another challenge is to launch his Peregrine spacecraft on the first flight of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. Although the first launch of any rocket is risky, Thornton said ULA has “a very successful track record and we are very confident”.
Intuitive Machines is also confident.
“The vehicle is ready,” said Stephen Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, in an interview in October. “It’s performing great…. We know what we’re up against. We’ve done extensive testing beyond development testing, to make sure the vehicle is performing as intended. And we’re confident in our reviews that we have removed all those problems fairly, and that we know how the vehicle behaves.”
Being in a position to take the United States back to the moon is a heavy burden “that we really, really take as a business,” he said. “We picked up all the lessons learned from all the other efforts before us. Eventually, somebody is going to break that barrier and be the first commercial company to do it. And for the first commercial company to be in the United States of America It’s a great company, I think.”
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