The “Peregrine” is supposed to be the first commercial landing on the moon. In addition to NASA measuring devices, there is a cargo on board that led to protests by Native Americans.
Cape Canaveral – A private US company wants to lay the foundation stone for the first commercial landing on the moon on Monday. A “Vulcan Centaur” rocket from the manufacturer ULA is scheduled to take off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the morning (at 8:18 a.m. CET at the earliest) with the “Peregrine” lander on board.
The capsule from the US company Astrobotic from Pittsburgh is finally scheduled to land on Earth’s satellite on February 23 in an area called Sinus Viscositatis (Bay of Stickiness). The US space agency Nasa wants to prepare its own expeditions to accompany Earth 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. 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.
This helps “to better prepare us to send manned missions back to the moon,” explained NASA scientist Paul Niles. As part of the “Artemis” program, NASA wants to orbit the moon with three men and one woman on the ten-day “Artemis 2” mission at the end of 2024.
In 2025, “Artemis 3” – at least according to the current plan – will see astronauts land on the moon again after more than half a century, including a woman and a non-white person for the first time. The long-term goal of “Artemis” is to establish a permanent lunar base as a basis for missions to Mars.
The moon as a business area
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 imaginative and motivated,” said Nasa program director Chris Culbert, praising 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.
However, a shipment from private partners in “Peregrine” is a thorn in the side of at least some native peoples 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. dpa