by A private American lunar lander has just cleared a major obstacle on the way to its first space flight this year.
The Peregrine lunar lander, built by Astrobotic, completed the last of its space qualification tests this month, the Pittsburgh-based company announced Wednesday (Jan. 25). Now engineers are awaiting United Launch Alliance (ULA) approval to send Peregrine from Pittsburgh to Florida for pairing with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket.
“These tests ultimately proved the quality of Peregrine’s design and execution,” Sharad Bhaskaran, Astrobotics’ mission director for Peregrine’s debut mission, said in a statement (opens in a new tab). “Everyone worked diligently, even through holidays, for this incredible achievement.”
Peregrine’s launch is targeted for the first quarter of 2023 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but like all launch dates, this is subject to change depending on technical conditions, weather and a number of other factors. The mission, the first lift for the new Vulcan Centaur, represents a new generation of lunar efforts by private companies.
Related: NASA’s full plate of lunar missions before astronauts can leave
The Peregrine lander, loaded with 11 NASA payloads, was selected for service through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA is using private robotic landers, rovers and other spacecraft to work alongside astronauts from the Artemis program, which could land near the moon’s south pole as early as 2025 on the Artemis 3 mission.
CLPS represents a new form of lunar exploration, as all successful lunar landing efforts to date have been led by countries rather than private companies. But that is expected to change greatly in the 2020s, as many missions are under development in the US and in other countries.
The first CLPS missions will be exploration efforts ahead of landing astronauts, with future missions expected to be located at the Moon’s south pole as NASA builds infrastructure for possible permanent settlement there. (The South Pole appears to be rich in water ice, presenting an ideal location for water-hungry machinery and astronauts as they could mine the precious resource locally rather than shipping it all the way from Earth.)
Which CLPS mission will arrive on the Moon first is not yet clear, as many efforts are planned for the coming months. Besides Peregrine, Intuitive Machines plans to launch its Nova-C lander in the first quarter of 2023, for example.
Meanwhile, another country has a private mission already on its way to the moon: the Hakuto-R lander, built by the Tokyo-based company ispace, is scheduled to land in April. After it lands, Hakuto-R will deploy Rashid, a small rover provided by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why am I taller? (opens in a new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or Facebook (opens in a new tab).
