With its Z-01 lander, Orbit Beyond will make the first attempt to land on the Moon in September, 2020. Orbit Beyond Intuitive Machines will attempt to fly its Nova-C lander in 2021. Intuitive Machines Astrobotic will attempt to send its Peregrine lander to the Moon in 2021 as well. Astrobotic Here is some more information about the lander from Astrobotic. Astrobotic The company advertises a cost of $1.2 million per kg to the lunar surface. Astrobotic It also seeks to sell capacity to universities and companies. Astrobotic Hydrazine fuel will power the vehicle. Astrobotic Lots of systems to ensure they stick the landing. Astrobotic
NASA has begun to make good on its promise to use commercial companies to help with its lunar exploration efforts.
On Friday, the space agency announced that it has contracted with three companies—Orbit Beyond, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines—to deliver scientific payloads to the Moon in the years 2020 and 2021. The announcement is significant for several reasons, not least because no private company has ever landed successfully on the Moon and because the United States has not made a soft landing on the Moon in 46 years.
This program, formally named Commercial Lunar Payload Services, represents the vanguard of a decade-long plan for NASA to return to the Moon and potentially establish an outpost for crew on the surface. With this first tentative step, NASA will attempt to better characterize the lunar surface for human activity, and it will begin to study the potential for using resources there.
"The most important goal we have right now is really science, but we do so as part of the agencys strategy to go to the Moon," said Thomas Zurbuchen, who heads up the space agency's science programs. "We want to do it with partners. We want to not only go there, but to grow an industry. Thats the only way we can stay."
Three awards
NASA awarded $97 million to a New Jersey-based company, Orbit Beyond, to send its Z-01 lander to a lava plain about 30 degrees north of the lunar equator in September 2020. The spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket, presumably as one of several customers on the booster.
Orbit Beyond will fly as many as four different experiments for NASA. The company also hopes to better characterize the plumes generated by a spacecraft as it lands on the dusty surface of the Moon and identify any effect this would have on nearby structures.
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Ars Technica
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