The first American device in more than 50 years to attempt to land on the moon, this time developed by a private company, successfully launched Monday aboard a brand new rocket.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket from the ULA industrial group, which includes Boeing and Lockheed Martin, made its first flight from Cape Canaveral, lifting off the ground at 2:18 a.m. local time (7:18 GMT) on Monday.
A “flawless” start for Eric Monda, director of strategic planning at ULA. “It was so good I rushed outside to watch,” he said.
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The lander on board, called Peregrine, was developed by the start-up Astrobotic with the support of NASA, which commissioned that company to transport scientific equipment to the moon – a contract worth $ 108 million.
After about 50 minutes of flight, the staff cheered at the announcement of the separation of the rocket and the lunar vehicle, which now independently continues its route to our natural satellite.
Astrobotic confirmed that the lander was successfully powered up and communications were established.
If Astrobotic manages to land on the moon on February 23 as planned, it could be the first company to achieve this feat.
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In recent years, Israeli and Japanese companies have attempted to land on the moon, but those missions ended in crashes.
“Leading America’s return to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo is a great honor,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said at a news conference Friday. However, he said he was aware of the risks of failure.
The launch opens a series of missions supported by the American space agency, which plans to rely partly on the private sector for its lunar ambitions.
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These missions “support a growing private space economy by showcasing the strength of American technology and innovation,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said in a news release.
Once the probe reaches lunar orbit, it waits until the lighting conditions are right and then attempts to land.
The targeted landing site is on the visible side of the moon, near mysterious domes formed from lava that scientists have difficulty explaining.
Thanks to the instruments sent, NASA will have to study the composition of the surface as well as radiation.
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The mission also caused controversy because among the private shipments transported were the ashes or DNA of dozens of people, including those of the creator of the popular science fiction television series Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. A partnership with the company Celestis, which specializes in “commemorative space flights”.
Sending these ashes to the moon aroused the ire of the Navajo Indian tribe, which denounced the “desecration of a sacred place” for “many Native American cultures,” but failed to get the launch postponed.
Vulcan Centaur, which has been in development for about a decade, will meet “ever-increasing needs” for launches, said ULA chief Tory Bruno.
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The rocket, which is around 60 meters high, is intended to enable the company to replace its Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles and compete with SpaceX with cheaper launches.
ULA, which plans six Vulcan Centaur launches this year, would like to restore its engines after each flight in the future to further increase the profitability of its operations.
This mission also represents a major step for NASA, which aims to promote the development of a lunar economy.
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It has signed a contract with several companies, including Astrobotic, to send scientific equipment to the moon. The program, called CLPS, provides critical financing to companies.
Another selected company, Intuitive Machines, is also scheduled to launch to the moon on a SpaceX rocket in mid-February.
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This new strategy should allow NASA to “make the trip more often, faster and for less money,” said Joël Kearns, a senior space agency official.
These missions to study the lunar environment are intended to prepare for the return of astronauts to the Moon, which NASA is planning with its Artemis program.
So far, only the USA, the Soviet Union, China and India have managed to successfully land a device on the moon.
In about two weeks, a mission from the Japanese space agency (Jaxa) will also attempt to land on the moon. Russia, on the other hand, spectacularly missed a moon landing this summer.