The upcoming launch of a lunar lander - Peregrine Mission One - is a nail-biter for many reasons. As a privately built spacecraft, it represents an undertaking developed by NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
The Peregrine falcon lunar lander was manufactured by Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company, and has a variety of NASA and commercial payloads.
So Pittsburgh could soon be considered a gateway the moonalong with that of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston and Florida's Space Coast. To help make this connection, Astrobotic headquarters features an adjacent Moonshot Museum that provides the public with first-hand insight into the development of lunar landers.
Peregrine Mission One will launch from the Space Coast on January 8, in the first-ever launch of the new United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket ship.
The private lunar lander will land in late February and plant its paws on the moon's Sinus Viscositatis (Bay of Stickiness), adjacent to the Gruitheisen Domes. The landing target is located on the northeastern border of Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms).
Related: The private Peregrine lunar lander will be stacked onto the ULA Vulcan rocket ahead of its January 8 launch
Long and winding journey
Peregrine represents prime-time history in the making; it aims to become the first private lander to ever land on the moon. But Astrobotic doesn't do it alone; there are seven different countries on board this remarkable mission.
NASA is also investing heavily. Peregrine Mission One is an early calling card to restart the space agency's human moon exploration Artemis program.
"It took many years to get here," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "For me, it's been 16 years that I've been with the company since the very beginning in 2007."
It's been a long and winding journey here on Earth to reach the moon, Thornton added. 'It certainly looked very different then. We were talking Google X Prize, trying to build a business and get cargo sales going. I always knew it would be extremely difficult. I knew it was going to be a slog."
Thornton said that for years, due to changing politics and stop-start space policies, the moon was a four-letter word at NASA. "We had a lot of people doubting us, laughing at us, and it was very difficult to find support. But we have found just enough support over the years to reach the critical mass that has led to where we are today," he said. .
Big effort
Reaching the moon requires serious effort. Through NASA's CLPS, the government is working with several U.S. companies to bring science and technology to the moon's surface through robotic missions.
'I think we are close to a sustainable model [the teaming of government with the private sector]"But I don't think we're quite there yet," Thornton said. The appropriate technical risk level, required financial filters and other factors posed challenges in NASA's formulation of CLPS, he added.
"The next step for CLPS, in my opinion, is that we need to move to CLPS 2.0," Thornton said. "I am strongly in favor of creating greater stability and certainty for the sector so that we can take greater advantage of opportunities in the supply chain and increasingly build a reliable, sustainable and mature industry to return to the surface of the moon."
Related: The Moon: Everything You Need to Know About Earth's Companion
Team of Astrobots
Thornton sees significant demand and interest from the scientific community for private lunar exploration. The added good news is the availability of technology, which allows researchers and research advocates to purchase - rather than invent - flight computers, avionics and other hardware for moon-bound spacecraft.
But preparing for moon missions remains difficult. "We can't fly the lander here on Earth in the environment that is the moon," Thornton said. "There's no way to simulate moon gravity and that is not possible in a vacuum environment. In our view, that is really the biggest challenge."
Thornton is proud of the team at "Astrobots" who have worked hard to shape the company today and provide a solid foundation for the future. This team consists of Astrobotic's four departments: lunar landers, planetary mobility, space technology and business development.
The payload manifest for Peregrine Mission One is quirky in some ways. For example, it includes a digital art gallery, a lunar Bitcoin, a dream capsule containing messages from 80,000 children from around the world, robotic technology, cremains of dearly departed individuals (including Gene Roddenberry and other " Star Trek "lighting devices"), as well as "MoonBoxes" with souvenirs, organized by the DHL company, one of which contains a piece of Mount Everest.
Pucker factor
The fact that Peregrine Mission One is flying on the very first Vulcan launch clearly adds more excitement. "Absolutely, there's no doubt about it," Thornton said. "It definitely has a pucker factor."
What gives Astrobotic comfort, Thornton added, is ULA's long history of success with its other rockets, such as the Workhorse Atlas V. "They certainly pulled out all the stops at every stage to make the first one successful," he said of the upcoming Vulcan debut.
The cost of Peregrine Mission One has not been published by Astrobotic, but is around $100 million, Thornton noted.
Important takeaway
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Peregrine's launch marks the start of a commercial movement, one of ten CLPS missions heading to the lunar landscape in the near future. And even if Peregrine experiences a problem during launch or landing, that movement will continue, Thornton points out.
"There's going to be a failure, hopefully not with us. This is a mission done on a relatively small budget. And that's how we're going to innovate. That's how we're going to take this next big step," he said. "It should be routine and regular, but we can't get there unless we try again."
And the failure of this mission would not mean that the program failed. "It's an opportunity to learn and get better," Thornton said. "We've benefited dramatically from what we learned from this first mission... and we'll only learn more from here on out. That's the most important lesson we're going to emphasize when we have a bad day."
