The USA's first private lunar mission is on its way to the moon

DThe USA's first private lunar mission is on its way to Earth's satellite. At exactly 8:18 a.m. German time, a “Vulcan Centaur” carrier rocket took off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida. On board is the landing device “Peregrine” (in German, peregrine falcon). If everything goes according to plan, the 1.90 meter high and 2.50 meter wide probe from the American space company “Astrobotic Technology” based in Pittsburgh will touch down on the lunar surface on February 23rd, after a flight time of seven weeks.

The long travel time is explained by the fact that Peregrine is approaching the Sinus Viscositatis landing area in the northern hemisphere in increasingly narrow orbits. If the mission succeeds, it would not only be a success for private companies, but also the USA's first soft moon landing in a good 51 years.

There are more than 20 private and government experiments on board the Peregrine Falcon, around half of which come from the American space agency NASA. Among other things, the lunar exosphere and thermal and magnetic properties of the moon will be investigated.

The German Aerospace Center DLR has developed an experiment – ​​called M42. The 20 centimeter long and 250 gram instrument is intended to measure cosmic radiation during the flight and from the lunar surface.

There are also five plate-sized autonomous robots on board. After landing, they will be thrown 15 meters away from the lander using a catapult. The rovers, which roll close to the lunar surface, are intended to analyze the nature of the lunar dust and measure the concentration of hydrogen. Peregrine gets its electricity from efficient solar cells. The mission is scheduled for 192 days.

The mission is the start of a series of other private space projects. The Nova-C lunar probe from the American space company Intuitive Machines, based in Houston, is scheduled to launch in mid-February. Since Nova-C takes a different route to its destination, it could reach the moon before Peregrine. The Russian Lunar 25 mission recently showed that it is no easy task to land safely on the moon. The probe crashed in August last year. A private Israeli landing mission experienced a similar situation on April 11, 2019.