A private US company plans 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 Pittsburgh-based US company Astrobotic 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 Earth’s companion 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. NASA wants to study the lunar exosphere as well as local magnetic fields and radiation on the mission, which is about 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 will help “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 resourceful and motivated,” said NASA program chief 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 cargo from private partners in “Peregrine” is a thorn in the side of at least some native people in the USA: human and animal ashes are also supposed to reach the moon through the mission – as a special final resting place. According to US media reports, the President of the Navajo Nation in the state of Arizona, Buu Nygren, therefore wrote a letter of complaint to NASA: The mission was desecrating the moon, which is considered sacred in their culture, it was said.
NASA confirmed that it supports a planned conversation with the Navajo, but also stressed that given the private nature of the mission, it has no influence on what will be launched toward the moon on January 8.
