Astrobotic – pressnews

[ad_1] In a big setback for US space agency NASA, a historic private mission to land on the Moon was facing near-certain failure Monday after the spacecraft suffered a "critical loss" of fuel, in a major blow to America's hopes of placing its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades.Fixed to the top of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan rocket, which was making its first flight, Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander blasted off overnight from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, then successfully separated from its launch vehicle. A few hours later, Astrobotic began reporting technical troubles, starting with an inability to orient Peregrine's top-mounted solar panel towards the Sun and keep its onboard battery topped up, due to a malfunction in its propulsion system. Th...

[ad_1] For years, NASA has been planting the seeds of what it hopes will one day sprout into a full-fledged lunar economy. In the future, private companies could ferry people and cargo to and from the moon, creating a base to conduct science and, eventually, mine resources and even lunar ice as an ingredient to make rocket propellant. It's a grand vision that could start to take shape this year and eventually lead to a marketplace in which companies could use the lunar environment to turn a profit as they do now with orbiting satellites.Much will have to go right for that future to coalesce over the next decade or so, starting with making trips to and from the moon as routine as satellite launches. For now, the lunar economy consists mainly of money from NASA contracts, and it will pro...

Tag: Astrobotic

Setback for NASA as Private US lunar lander facing failure after ‘critical loss’ of fuel

Space Startups Are Trying to Make Money Going to the Moon