2023-12-29 15:51:00
Os USA can usher in the era of private initiative on the Moon. After all, two companies in the country have plans to send unmanned spacecraft to the site soon and, if everything goes well, it is possible that these will be the first soft landings since the Apollo missions in the 1970s.
For starters, the initiative is part of NASA’s Artemis program. The idea is to take astronauts to the lunar surface and the measure is part of an even larger program, called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, announced 5 years ago. In this sense, the objective is to bring scientific cargo to the star, through private industry.
In relation to companies, one of them is Astrorobotic, located in Pittsburrgh, which is expected to launch its unmanned spacecraft on January 8th. Called Peregrine, the vehicle will be sent on the Vulcan rocket, operated by United Launch Alliance. If everything goes according to plans, it should land on February 23rd.
The other company is located in Florida and is called Intuitiva Machines. The launch of the spacecraft is scheduled for mid-February, on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. As for the landing, it should take place around 7 days later, but neither of the two specific dates have been revealed.
According to information from the Washington Post, private companies are eligible to participate in these shipments worth US$2.6 billion over 10 years. Although interesting, NASA’s chief science officer and former head of the science division that oversaw the program claims the chances of a successful moon landing are 50%.
Recently, tests were carried out with an elevator for the lunar module before the Artemis mission. Finally, see the details of the robot developed by NASA 1 that will search for signs of life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
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