A pair of companies plan to launch unmanned spacecraft to the moon within weeks of each other early next year in a NASA-funded effort that could mark the first soft landings for the United States on the lunar surface since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972.
But in a sign of how the commercial space industry is transforming exploration, the companies are also competing for another historic first: becoming the first private company to land on the moon.
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On January 8, Astrobotic, a company based in Pittsburgh, will launch its Peregrine spacecraft during the inaugural launch of the Vulcan rocket, operated by the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Intuitive Machines will then launch its lander on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from another platform in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in mid-February.
The missions are related to NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon's surface. But these missions are part of an initiative called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which aims to send cargo and science experiments to the moon. When announcing the program five years ago, then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he wanted to leverage the capabilities of private industry to work quickly and cheaply. "What we're going for here is speed," he said at the time.
Several companies are eligible to compete for contracts worth $2.6 billion over ten years. And after years of delays, the first missions are finally happening, with more to come.
"This is an exciting time," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an interview. "These guys can become scouts for the astronauts that we're going to land on the moon. And we can learn things about the moon that we wouldn't otherwise be able to because we wouldn't be able to have as many landings."
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It is not clear which company would land first. Astrobotic said in a news release that if it were to launch as planned on January 8, the spacecraft would land on February 23. A spokesperson for Intuitive Machines said the company expects to land "approximately seven days after launch." The launch date was scheduled for January 12, but was pushed back to mid-February because "adverse weather conditions resulted in shifts in the SpaceX launch manifest." The company has not yet released an exact launch or landing date.
The missions come as several countries have sent spacecraft to the moon in recent years. And Japan's space agency hopes its robot lander, which launched on September 7, would land on January 19. That would make it the fifth country to make a soft landing on the moon, just months after India successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon. the moon's surface in August.
But landing on the moon is risky - and many have tried and failed in the past. Earlier this year, iSpace, a Japanese company, lost a spacecraft while trying to land on the moon. Russia also lost a spacecraft attempting a moon landing this year.
In recent years, China has sent a fleet of spacecraft to the moon, starting with orbiters in 2007 and again in 2010. China then landed the Chang'e 3 spacecraft in 2013, becoming the first country to perform a soft landing on the moon since moon made. the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
In early 2019, China made history by landing the first spacecraft on the far side of the moon. And in 2020 it brought back samples from the lunar surface, another impressive demonstration of its growing ambitions.
As part of the Artemis program, NASA wants to land astronauts on the moon in the coming years, perhaps as early as 2025, but probably later. After successfully orbiting the moon last year without anyone on board, the Orion spacecraft is planning a lunar flight mission with astronauts. That was initially scheduled for late next year, but Nelson said the timeline could shift to 2025. "They're going through all kinds of testing," he said, adding that the space agency plans to provide an update "early in the year." about the schedule. the new Year."
But before then, NASA hopes to make several robotic landings to pave the way. In addition to the two planned early this year, NASA plans to send its first robotic rover to the moon with an Astrobotic spacecraft. The vehicle, named VIPER (for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover), would be equipped with a drill to search for water in the form of ice near the moon's south pole.
"If this all works out, what a great tool to support people on the surface of the moon, but also to undertake exciting scientific and commercial activities in ways that would otherwise not be feasible," said Thomas Zurbuchen, former head of the science department of NASA. oversaw the program.
Still, he said, the approach to partnering with the commercial sector for such missions "must be proven," and landing on the moon is an incredibly difficult task. The chance of a successful landing on any mission, he estimates, is about 50 percent. But if two companies go for it at the same time, the chances of an American spacecraft landing on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years increase.
Astrobotic CEO John Thornton recently told reporters he was well aware of the risks. "It's certainly a huge challenge," he said. "I mean, I'll be terrified and excited all at once every stage."
While he said there is a competition to be the first to reach the moon, he said the primary goal is "to create a movement of commercial supplies to the surface. The most important and highest priority of this is the success of the industry. That has been the astrobotic position since today. One, we need this industry to succeed. We need this program to succeed."
Another challenge is that the Peregrine spacecraft will be launched on the maiden flight of ULA's Vulcan rocket. While the first launch of any rocket is risky, Thornton said ULA "has a really great track record of success and we have a lot of confidence in it."
Intuitive Machines also has confidence in it.
"The vehicle is ready," Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus said in an October interview. "It performs fantastically... We know the odds we face. We have done extensive testing in addition to development testing to ensure the vehicle performs as designed. And we are confident that we will emerge from our test come." reviews that we have solved all these problems and that we know how the vehicle behaves.
Being in a position to return the United States to the moon "is a heavy burden that we take very seriously as a company," he said. "We've learned all the lessons we've learned from all the other efforts that have come before us. Eventually, someone will break that barrier and be the first commercial company to do so. And that the first commercial company will be a United States." I think the company is fantastic."
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