The United States to attempt moon landing in 2024
After more than 50 years since the last Apollo mission, the United States is preparing to once again attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon. According to John Thornton, CEO of the American company Astrobotic, the mission is scheduled for January 25, 2024, and could make Astrobotic the first private company to achieve this feat.
The lunar lander, named Peregrine, will not carry any crew members, but it will be carrying five scientific instruments for NASA. These instruments are intended to study the lunar environment in preparation for NASA’s manned Artemis missions.
The US space agency has been working on the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to hire American companies to send scientific experiments and technologies to the Moon. The goal is to develop the lunar economy and provide transportation services at a lower cost.
Thornton explained, “One of the biggest challenges of what we are testing here is to attempt a launch and landing on the surface of the Moon for a fraction of what it would cost otherwise. Only half of the missions that have gone to the surface of the Moon have been successful. It is certainly a daunting challenge. I’m going to be terrified and excited at the same time at every stage.”
The takeoff is scheduled for December 24 from Florida aboard the inaugural flight of the new rocket from the industrial group ULA, named Vulcan Centaur. The probe will then take “a few days” to reach lunar orbit before attempting to land on January 25, 2024.
Earlier this year, a Japanese start-up, ispace, attempted to become the first private company to land on the moon, but the mission ended in an accident. In 2019, Israel also failed in its attempt. Currently, only four countries have successfully landed on the Moon: the United States, Russia, China, and India.
In addition to Astrobotic, NASA has signed contracts with other companies, including Firefly Aerospace, Draper, and Intuitive Machines. The latter is set to take off on a SpaceX rocket in January. With its Artemis program, NASA hopes to establish a base on the surface of the Moon.