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A new rocket was launched from Florida yesterday, Monday, carrying the first American vehicle that is supposed to land on the moon in more than 50 years, and this time it was developed by a private company.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket was launched from the ULA group, which includes the giant Boeing and Lockheed Martin groups, to make its first flight from Cape Canaveral at 02:18 local time (07:18 GMT) yesterday, Monday, from the Kennedy Space Center.
Workers at the base clapped and cheered with joy when the launch pad and the lunar spacecraft separated after about 48 minutes without any incident, which is a major milestone for the company.
ULA Group CEO Tony Bruno said on the US space agency’s broadcast network:NASAHe is “excited”, but added: “It is the result of years of hard work… and so far the mission to return to the moon has been amazing.”
ULA’s Director of Strategic Planning, Eric Monda, praised the missile’s takeoff and said it was “flawless.”
The lander, called “Peregrine” (Al-Shaheen), was developed by the startup Astrobotic, with support from NASA, which commissioned this company to transport scientific equipment to the moon in a contract worth $108 million.
This launch is supposed to launch a series of missions supported by the US Space Agency, which wants to rely partly on the private sector to achieve its ambitions on the moon.
If Astrobotic is able to land on the moon as planned on February 23, it may become the first private company to achieve this achievement. In past years, Israeli and Japanese companies attempted to land on the moon, but their missions ended in accidents.
“Leading America’s return to the surface of the moon for the first time since Apollo is a great honor,” Astrobotic President John Thornton said in a press conference on Friday. But he stressed that he realizes the difficulty of the mission and the risks of failure.
After Peregrine separates from the rocket, Astrobotic is supposed to start operating Vulcan Centaur and try to establish contact, and if all goes well, the vehicle will then continue on its way to the moon.
Once it reaches lunar orbit, the probe will wait until the lighting conditions become suitable for a landing attempt. The target landing site is located on the visible side of the moon near the mysterious domes formed by volcanic lava, but scientists find it difficult to explain them.
Thanks to the instruments sent, NASA will study the surface composition as well as radiation.
Human ashes
This mission also sparked controversy because it carries the ashes of a number of deceased people, including the ashes of the creator of the “Star Trek” series and films, Gene Roddenberry, and his wife.
But sending these ashes to the moon angered the Navajo tribe, a indigenous people in America that sanctifies the moon. The tribe denounced the “desecration of a sacred place” with the ashes of dead humans.
Mark Beller, Vice President of the ULA Group, confirmed that Vulcan Centaur, which has been in development for about 10 years, represents “the future of the company.”
The 60-meter-long Vulcan Centaur is supposed to allow ULA to replace its Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, and compete with SpaceX in providing launch services at affordable prices.
ULA, which intends to carry out six launches of the Vulcan Centaur rocket this year, hopes to restore its engines after each flight to increase the profitability of its activities.
Lunar economy
Although NASA is not undertaking this trip itself, it represents a major step for the agency, which seeks to create conditions that allow for a lunar economy.
The agency signed a contract with several companies, including Astrobotic, to send scientific equipment to the moon. The program itself, called CLPS, provides critical financing to companies.
Within the framework of the same program called “CLPS,” the agency also signed a contract with another American company, “Intuitive Machines,” under which it was assigned similar services. The company’s landing vehicle is expected to take off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in mid-February.
Senior NASA official Joel Kearns explained that this new strategy is supposed to allow NASA flights “at a greater pace and speed and at a cheaper price.”
These missions, which study the lunar environment, are supposed to allow preparations for the return of astronauts to the moon, which is what NASA plans through its program. Artemis.
To date, only the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India have succeeded in landing vehicles on the moon. The Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is also scheduled to attempt to land a vehicle on the moon’s surface in two weeks. As for Russia, it failed in a similar attempt last summer.
