AstroboticThe first lunar lander is ready for liftoff.
The lander, called Peregrine, has completed final inspections and refueling after it mated with United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket last month, the company announced Tuesday. All that remains now is the launch on January 8, followed of course by a historic moon landing.
“If you follow the lunar industry, you realize that landing on the moon is very difficult,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement. “However, our team has consistently exceeded expectations and demonstrated incredible ingenuity during flight reviews, spacecraft testing, and major hardware integrations.”
“We are ready for launch and landing.”
The nearly two-meter-long Peregrine lander will carry 20 payloads for government and commercial customers. The lander, with a payload of 90 kilograms, will operate for approximately 192 hours after landing on the moon’s surface. During that time, it will provide power and communications to the payloads. According to the payload users guide on Astrobotic’s website, the company charges about $1.2 million per kilogram of mass delivered to the lunar surface.
Astrobotic is performing the mission as part of a $79.5 million contract from NASA under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The company has also been awarded a second CLPS contract for the larger Griffin lander; This mission is expected to be launched in late 2024.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is one of a few commercial companies betting that there will be a booming market for lunar payload delivery services. Other companies include Intuitive Machines, which aims to launch its first lander a few days after Peregrine, on January 12; Firefly Aerospace and Japanese company ispace, which failed to launch to the moon earlier this year.
After Peregrine lifts off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the spacecraft will perform a series of burns to get it in position to land on the Moon on February 23.
Astrobotic isn’t the only company with a lot at stake with its Jan. 8 launch: The mission also marks the first-ever flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, a vehicle that suffered from delays that subsequently delayed its debut by years . ULA aims to launch several Vulcan missions next year, and eventually needs to complete a $38 billion launch deal with Amazon for the Kuiper Project’s broadband constellation of satellites.
Astrobotic and ULA were originally targeting a December 24 launch date, but that was later postponed to give ULA time to complete a wetsuit rehearsal. This wet dress was finally finished on December 14, ULA said.