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Mahesh

10/01/24 06:24 AM IST

First US lunar lander since 1972 launched

In News
  • A spacecraft developed by a private US company and carrying a bunch of scientific instruments from NASA, took off from Florida, hoping to become the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon in more than 50 years.
About mission
  • Five payloads from NASA sat inside the Peregrine lander that was launched by the Vulcan heavy rocket.
  • The lander has been built by Astrobotic while the rocket came from United Launch Alliance, another private enterprise.
  • The spacecraft will take more than 40 days to reach the Moon, and is planned to make a landing on February 23.
  • The payloads are meant to carry out various exploratory activities, including detection of water.
  • One of the payloads, called Laser Retroreflector Array, is a collection of several mirrors that would allow precision measurements of the distance of other orbiting or landing spacecraft by reflecting light from them.
  • This particular instrument would remain permanently deployed on the Moon’s surface, and would act as a marker for distances on the Moon.
  • The other payloads would remain active for ten days after landing.
Other mission to moon by US
  • No US spacecraft has landed on the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
  • That was the last of the six Apollo missions to have made the moon-landing, each allowing two astronauts to walk on the Moon’s surface.
  • The United States reignited its interest in the Moon in the 1990s but started almost afresh, sending a few Orbiters to study the lunar surface and environment from a distance.
  • It was only in 2018 that the US decided to make a return to the Moon, this time for longer stays.
  • Over the next few years, the Artemis programme plans to send a series of Moon missions, including those carrying astronauts.
  • The first Artemis mission was sent off in November 22. It orbited the Moon and returned to the Earth. NASA is planning to send the first crewed mission into space next year, and would attempt a human landing on Moon in 2025.
  • The Artemis programme seeks to establish a permanent base camp on the Moon, and send astronauts and robots for longer stays for more comprehensive exploration, and scientific studies, of the lunar surface and atmosphere.
  • It would also explore opportunities for the utilisation of resources available on the Moon with the ultimate objective of launching deep space missions from the lunar surface.
Artemis programme
  • For the Artemis programme, NASA has sought cooperation from the private space industry as well through this Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
  • As of now, at least 14 private companies have been contracted to carry NASA payloads to the Moon.
  • This collaboration is aimed at creating the market and technology ecosystem in the private space industry with respect to science and technology needs of lunar exploration.
  • CLPS is an innovative way of leverating American companies to send important science and technology payloads to the Moon.
Significance
  • These high-risk missions will not only conduct new science on the Moon, but they are supporting a growing commercial space economy while showing the strength of American technology and innovation.
Source- Indian Express

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