Everything about the NASA-Astrobotic Peregrine Moon mission
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic has developed the Peregrine Mission 1 (PM1) which could soon launch to the Moon. The roughly 6-foot-tall spacecraft will ferry a couple of scientific and other payloads, including some from NASA, to the Moon. The PM1 mission will be "the first commercial mission to land on another planetary body," per Astrobotic. The launch date of the mission is yet to be announced.
A new launch date is yet to be announced
"Launch of Peregrine Mission 1 is no longer targeted for its planned May 4 date due to anomalies found in tests of the Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle," said NASA. "A new launch date will be announced once the launch vehicle investigation is completed."
The mission will launch atop a Vulcan Centaur rocket
The Peregrine Mission 1 will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida atop a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket. The mission is scheduled to land at Sinus Viscositatis, or the Bay of Stickiness, which refers to flat, dark plains of lower elevation on the Moon. The mission's journey could take somewhere between 15-54 days. The mission will operate for about 192 hours.
What is the purpose of the mission?
Peregrine Mission 1 is roughly 6 feet high and measures approximately 8 feet wide. It comprises a box-shaped main body supported by four legs for landing. Among the objectives of the mission is to probe the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, hydrogen in the lunar regolith, and the radiation environment. The mission will also test advanced solar arrays, per NASA's official blog post.
The mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services
The Peregrine Mission 1 is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. For the CLPS initiatives, NASA collaborates with a commercial partner, in this case Astrobiotic, to provide the launch and lander services for the mission.
The mission will ferry 21 different payloads
The Peregrine Mission 1 is expected to carry about 21 payloads of various kinds. The list of scientific payloads includes the Laser Retro-Reflector Array (LRA), Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS), Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS), PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS), and Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS). The lander, which is called Peregrine, can ship payloads of up to 90kg.
Here's a little more about the onboard scientific payloads
NIVRSS will help measure surface and subsurface hydration, carbon dioxide, and methane. All these resources could be potentially mined on the Moon. It will also map the surface temperature at the landing site. NSS will look for signs of water ice by determining the level of hydrogen-bearing materials present at the site and will determine what the lunar regolith is made up of.
