astroboticThe first lunar lander is ready to take off.
The company announced Tuesday that the lander, called Peregrine, completed final checks and fuel delivery after it docked with United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket last month. All that remains now is the launch on January 8, followed, of course, by a historic moon landing.
“If you've been following the lunar industry, you understand that landing on the surface of the Moon is incredibly difficult,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement. “That said, our team has continually 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-tall Peregrine lander will carry 20 payloads for government and commercial customers. The lander, which has a payload capacity of 90 kilograms, will operate for about 192 hours after landing on the lunar surface. During that time, it will provide power and communications to the payloads. According to a payload user guide on Astrobotic's website, the company is charging about $1.2 million per kilogram of mass delivered to the lunar surface.
Astrobotic is executing the mission as part of a $79.5 million NASA contract under the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The company also received a second CLPS contract for its much larger Griffin lander; That mission is expected to launch in late 2024.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is one of the few commercial players betting there will be a thriving market for lunar payload delivery services. Other companies include Intuitive Machines, which aims to launch its first lander just days after Peregrine, on January 12; and Firefly Aerospace and Japanese firm ispace, which had a failed moon launch earlier this year.
After Peregrine lifts off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the spacecraft will execute a series of burns to put it in position to land on the Moon on February 23.
Astrobotic isn't the only company that has a lot riding on the Jan. 8 launch: The mission also marks the first flight of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket, a vehicle that has been beset by delays that subsequently delayed its debut by years. . ULA aims to launch several Vulcan flights next year and eventually needs to complete a multi-million-dollar, 38-launch deal with Amazon for its Project Kuiper satellite broadband constellation.
Astrobotic and ULA originally targeted a launch date of December 24, but it was later delayed to give ULA time to complete a wet dress rehearsal. That wet dress was finally finished on Dec. 14, ULA said.
