A private US company plans to lay the foundation stone for the first commercial landing on the moon on Monday. A rocket type Vulcan Centaur from the manufacturer ULA should arrive with the lander in the morning (8:18 a.m. CET at the earliest). Peregrine on board from the Cape Canaveral spaceport.
The capsule from the US company Astrobotic from Pittsburgh is finally scheduled to land on Earth’s satellite on February 23rd in an area called Sinus Viscositatis. The US space agency Nasa wants to prepare its own expeditions to Earth’s companion with several devices on the “Peregrine Mission 1”. Private individuals could also buy space to transport materials to the moon in the lander, which is 1.9 meters high and 2.5 meters in diameter.
Preparations for landing humans on the moon
During the mission, NASA would like to examine the lunar exosphere as well as local magnetic fields and radiation at a distance of around 380,000 kilometers from Earth. In addition, thermal properties and the hydrogen content of the material on the lunar surface (regolith) will be investigated. It is also planned to test advanced solar systems in this lunar collaboration between NASA and a private company.
A depiction of the Peregrine spacecraft on the lunar surface.
(Photo: –/dpa)
This helps “to better prepare us to send manned missions back to the moon,” explains NASA scientist Paul Niles. As part of the Artemisprogram, NASA wants to have three men and one woman on the ten-day mission at the end of 2024 Artemis 2 orbit the moon. 2025 should then be at Artemis 3 – at least according to the current plan – after more than half a century, astronauts will land on the moon again, including a woman and a non-white person for the first time. The long-term goal of Artemis is the establishment of a permanent lunar base as a basis for missions to Mars.
It is important for the US space agency to have help from private space companies. “We don’t know how many of these early tests will be successful. But I can tell you that these American companies are technically detail-oriented. They are very business-minded. They are resourceful and motivated,” NASA program chief Chris Culbert praised Astrobotic and other partners . The companies are highly motivated to conquer the moon as a business area. But success is not guaranteed: In April, a private Japanese company failed in a similar mission.
A load of private partners in Peregrine (English “peregrine falcon”) is a thorn in the side of at least some natives in the USA: human and animal ashes are supposed to end up on the moon – as a special final resting place – through the mission. According to US media reports, the President of the Navajo Nation in the state of Arizona, Buu Nygren, wrote a letter of complaint to NASA: The mission was desecrating the moon, which is considered sacred in their culture, they said.
NASA confirmed that it supports a planned conversation with the Navajo, but also emphasized that given the private nature of the mission, it has no influence on what is shot towards the moon on January 8th.