Peregrine Mission One, a lunar landing mission from private spaceflight company Astrobotic and partially funded by NASA, is launched on Monday 8 January 2024.
The spacecraft is due to fly to the Moon and enter orbit, before the Peregrine lander sets down on the lunar surface in late February 2024.
If successful, it will be the first time a private company has landed on the Moon.
The Peregrine lander is a cargo transport craft, capable of carrying multiple payloads from different clients to the surface at the same time.
Peregrine Mission One is funded in part by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme. CLPS contracts private companies to help transport equipment to the Moon.
The mission is carrying several NASA experiments.
These aim to pave the way for the Artemis programme, which hopes to set humans on the lunar surface by the end of the decade.
The lander carries a range of other payloads, including a lunar rover, scientific experiments, messages from Earth and even human remains.
Astrobotic are already well underway with planning their next mission: transporting NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the lunar south pole on board their larger Griffin landing platform.
When did Peregrine Mission One launch?
Peregrine Mission One launched on 8 January at 02:18am EST (07:18 GMT).
It launched on board a Vulcan rocket from United Launch Alliance from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Peregrine will check out its systems in low-Earth orbit before continuing its journey on to the Moon.
After arriving, it will enter into lunar orbit and prepare for landing on the Moon’s surface.
Where to watch the Peregrine Mission One launch
The landing was livestreamed on NASA TV and you can watch the replay below.
When will Peregrine Mission One land?
Provided the initial launch phase go to plan, Peregrine Mission One is due to land the Moon on 23 February.
It will land in region called the Gruithuisen Domes, a region filled with mysterious dome formations.
It is located to the northeast of Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), a large dark area covering the Moon’s upper left side.
What’s onboard Peregrine Mission One?
There are 21 different payloads on board Peregrine Mission One.
Its scientific payload includes six NASA experiments that will scout the lunar surface ahead of the agency’s Artemis III landing, currently scheduled for 2025/26.
The lander also carries several other scientific experiments which will investigate the lunar surface. It even has a small lunar rover that will scout the surrounding area.
In addition, the lander will carry artefacts such as informational archives, messages from the public, advertising enterprises and even a few memorial capsules containing human remains.
NASA payloads on Peregrine Mission One
- Near Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS): an instrument that measures hydration of the surface, as well as carbon dioxide and methane, all of which could be used by future missions.
- Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS): will measure the radiation environment of the Moon’s surface.
- Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS): by looking for hydrogen bearing molecules near the surface, the NSS could detect potential water ice in the lunar soil.
- Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA): a series of reflectors that lasers can bounce off to measure distances.
- PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer for Lunar Surface Volatiles (PITMS): This instrument will characterise the tenuous lunar atmosphere, called the exosphere, seeing how it changes through the lunar day.
- Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL): This instrument will help Peregrine determine is velocity and position during landing.
Other scientific experiments
- Iris lunar rover: a 2kg lunar rover built by students and staff at Carnegie Mellon University. Part of Astrobotic’s MoonRanger lunar rover programme.
- Terrain Relative Navigation: one of Astrobotic’s own sensors that will help future landers touch down on the surface within 100m.
- M-42: a radiation detector from the German Aerospace Center. It will measure how much radiation a human would encounter on a trip to the surface of the Moon.
- Instruments from Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM): the first science experiments from Latin America to land on the Moon.
Other
- Lunar Dream Capsule from Astroscale: an archive of 80,000 messages from children around the world.
- Moon Ark: a set of intricately designed objects for future generations, designed by Carnegie Mellon University.
- Memorial Spaceflight: memorial capsule containing cremated remains from company Celestis.
- Memorial Space Flight Services: memorial capsule containing cremated remains from Elysium Space.
- Mementos to the Moon: A selection of mementos from people around the world including photographs, novels and a piece of Mount Everest delivered by DHL.
- BitMex: a Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Magazine Genesis Plate: a copy of the first Bitcoin to be mined.