First US lunar lander takes off on private mission in fifty years

A brand-new rocket, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur, lifted off at 2:18 a.m. (0718 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for its maiden voyage carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander.

Mission control staff cheered and applauded when the lander separated from the rocket without any problems about 48 minutes later – a significant milestone for the private company.

ULA President and CEO Tony Bruno praised the launch on a NASA livestream.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “It’s years of hard work.

“So far it’s been an absolutely beautiful mission back to the Moon.”

Eric Monda, ULA’s director of strategic planning, described the launch as “spot on”.

He said, “It was so cool. I ran out to see.”

If all goes according to plan, Peregrine will approach a mid-latitude region of the moon called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on February 23.

NASA’s payload suite on Peregrine One will aim to detect water molecules on the Moon, measure radiation and gases around the lander, and evaluate the lunar exosphere (the thin layer of gases on the Moon’s surface). These measurements will improve our understanding of how solar radiation interacts with the lunar surface. The payload will also provide data to NASA’s Lunar-VISE (Lunar Vulcan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer) instrument suite, which is scheduled to land on the Gruythusen Domes in 2026.

“We are very excited to see this vision become a reality. “CLPS is an innovative way to leverage American companies to send critical science and technology payloads to the Moon,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Sampling the lunar environment will help NASA solve some of the greatest mysteries of our solar system for the benefit of everyone.”

The Peregrine lander is targeted to land on February 23 at Sinus Viscositatis, a lunar feature outside the hardened lava Gruythusen Domes near the moon. Large amounts of water are required to form similar natural formations on Earth, leading scientists to believe this landing site may contain evidence of water on the Moon.

NASA’s five payloads on Astrobotic’s Peregrine One lander include the following:

The LETS (Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer) payload is a radiation monitor derived from heritage hardware flown on Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 in 2014. LETS will collect data on the lunar radiation environment and demonstrate the capabilities of radiation monitors on the lunar surface. , LETS units were also flown as biosentinel payloads on Artemis I and the International Space Station. The LETS Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor System uses the same core technology as the primary radiation monitors on Artemis missions. Payload Principal Investigator: Dr. Edward Simmons, NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

NIRVSS (Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System) will reveal the composition and surface temperature and fine structure of the lunar soil at the landing site. NIRVSS features an imager, spectrometer, and thermal sensors to study the lunar soil and determine what types of minerals and volatiles are present. Payload Principal Investigator: Dr. Anthony Colaprete, NASA Ames Research Center

The NSS (Neutron Spectrometer System) is an instrument capable of indirectly detecting potential water present in the lunar soil at the landing site, which results from water in the exhaust deposited by the lander’s engines. After landing, the system will measure any changes in lunar soil characteristics during the lunar day. Payload Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard Elphick, NASA Ames

PITMS (Peregrine Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer) will investigate the composition of compounds in the thin lunar atmosphere after landing and throughout the lunar day, to understand the release and movement of volatiles such as water, gases and other chemical compounds. PITMS is a partnership between NASA, the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, and ESA (European Space Agency). Payload Principal Investigator: Dr. Barbara Cohen, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The LRA (Laser Retroreflector Array) is a collection of eight retroreflectors that enable precise measurement of the distance between an orbiting or descending spacecraft and a lander. The LRA is a passive optical instrument and will serve as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come. Payload Principal Investigator: Dr. Xiaoli Sun, NASA Goddard

Astrobotic is one of 14 vendors eligible to carry NASA payloads to the Moon through the CLPS initiative, which began in 2018 and is designed to be a commercial marketplace for science, exploration, and technology development investigations on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit. Designed to be installed. Through CLPS, NASA aims to gain new insights into the lunar environment and expand the lunar economy to support future crewed missions under the Artemis program.

*With agency input

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Published: 08 January 2024, 03:13 PM IST