2023 ended on a high note for NASA with the dual launches of a Falcon Heavy containing the X-37B space plane and a Falcon 9 Starlink mission less than three hours later. That’s a hard act to beat, but now all eyes are turning to another major launch set for January 8th.
United Launch Alliance will finally launch their new and long-delayed booster, known as the Vulcan, on January 8th at 2:18AM EST. The first flight of any booster is significant, but what really makes this launch one of the most eagerly anticipated is that it will be carrying the Astrobotic Peregrine Lunar Lander, a major step in the Artemis “Return to the Moon” program. The launch will be carried live on ULA’s website.
If all goes well, sometime in late February (currently targeted for February 23rd) , the Peregrine lander will make the first soft landing on the moon of any US spacecraft in the last 50 years. Last August, India made history as its unmanned Moon mission became the first to land in the lunar south pole region. With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
After an Earth orbit period and cruise to the Moon, followed by a lunar orbit phase, Peregrine will descend and land in Sinus Viscositatis (Bay of Stickiness) adjacent to the Gruitheisen Domes on the northeast border of Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms). The area is near the lunar south pole, and has become a major area of interest due to the potential of the zone harboring water in the form of ice.
The lander, made by US company Astrobotic, will carry an assortment of scientific experiments designed to pave the way for the US manned return to the moon later in this decade. (Conservatively, a manned landing is set for 2027.) According to a NASA website, the scientific objectives of the mission are to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment. It will also test advanced solar arrays.
NASA’s mission coverage will begin with a series of events beginning on January 4th. A complete list of coverage is available here.
