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Private spaceflight refers to spaceflight activities undertaken by non-governmental entities, such as corporations, individuals, or non-profit organizations. This contrasts with public spaceflight, which is traditionally conducted by government agencies like NASA, ESA, or JAXA.
The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.
Astrobotic Technology, Inc., commonly referred to as Astrobotic, is an American private company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their first launch occurred on January 8, 2024, as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The launch carried the company's Peregrine lunar lander on board the first flight of the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Florida's Space Force Station LC-41. The mission was unable to reach the Moon for a soft or hard landing. On June 11, 2020, Astrobotic received a second contract for the CLPS program. NASA would pay Astrobotic US$199.5 million to take the VIPER rover to the Moon, targeting a landing in November 2024. In July 2024, NASA announced that VIPER had been cancelled.
Planetary Transportation Systems (PTS), formerly known as PTScientists and Part-Time Scientists, is a Berlin-based aerospace company. They developed the robotic lunar lander "ALINA" and seek to land on the Moon with it. They became the first German team to officially enter the Google Lunar X-Prize competition on June 24, 2009, but failed to reach the finals in 2017 for lack of a launch contract. During the summer of 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy, and the ALINA project was put on hold. In July 2021, PTS was selected with ArianeGroup to build ESA's ASTRIS kick-stage.
The Lunar CATALYST initiative is an attempt by NASA to encourage the development of robotic lunar landers that can be integrated with United States commercial launch capabilities to deliver payloads to the lunar surface.
Artemis III is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Artemis III is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. In December 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the mission is not likely to occur before 2027; as of January 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis III to launch no earlier than September 2026 due to issues with the valves in Orion's life support system.
Camille Wardrop Alleyne is a Trinidadian aerospace engineer, space scientist, and science ambassador. She is the Founder, CEO and President of Arusha Space, LLC., a geospatial analytics and global space consulting company that uses space-enabled technologies for solving Earth's challenges. Prior to starting her company, Alleyne spent 29 years working for the US Government advancing space and aerospace technologies at NASA and Department of Defense.
Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System bodies.
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to hire companies to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon. Most landing sites are near the lunar south pole where they will scout for lunar resources, test in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and perform lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed-price contracts. The program achieved the first landing on the moon by a commercial company in history with the IM-1 mission in 2024. The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025.
ispace Inc. is a publicly traded Japanese company developing robotic spacecraft and other technology to compete for both transportation and exploration mission contracts from space agencies and other private industries. ispace's mission is to enable its clients to discover, map, and use natural lunar resources.
Orbit Beyond, Inc., usually stylized as ORBITBeyond, is an aerospace company that builds technologies for lunar exploration. Its products include configurable delivery lunar landers with a payload capacity of up to 300 kg (660 lb), and rovers.
The Intuitive Machines Nova-C, or simply Nova-C, is a class of lunar landers designed by Intuitive Machines (IM) to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. Intuitive Machines was one of three service providers awarded task orders in 2019 for delivery of NASA science payloads to the Moon. The IM-1 lunar lander, named Odysseus, was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 15 February 2024, reached lunar orbit on 21 February, and landed on the lunar surface on 22 February. This marked the inaugural Nova-C landing on the Moon and the first American spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years. It is the first spacecraft to use methalox propulsion to navigate between the Earth and the Moon.
McCandless Lunar Lander, also known as the McCandless Lunar Delivery Service, is a concept for a robotic lunar lander proposed as one of the commercial cargo vehicles for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). The lander was proposed to NASA for funding by the aerospace company Lockheed Martin, and it is based on the successful Mars landers Phoenix and InSight.
Beresheet was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries. Its aims included inspiring youth and promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and landing its magnetometer, time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon. The lander's gyroscopes failed on 11 April 2019 causing the main engine to shut off, which resulted in the lander crashing on the Moon. Its final resting position is 32.5956°N, 19.3496°E.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Peregrine Lunar Lander flight 01, commonly referred to as Peregrine Mission One, was an unsuccessful American lunar lander mission. The lander, dubbed Peregrine, was built by Astrobotic Technology and carried payloads for the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Peregrine Mission One launched on 8 January 2024, at 2:18 am EST, on the maiden flight of the Vulcan Centaur (Vulcan) rocket. The goal was to land the first U.S.-built lunar lander on the Moon since the crewed Apollo Lunar Module on Apollo 17 in 1972.
IM-1 was a robotic Moon landing mission conducted by Intuitive Machines (IM) in February 2024 using a Nova-C lunar lander. After contact with the lunar surface on February 22 the lander tipped to an unplanned 30 degree angle. All instrument payloads remained functional and the mission was deemed a success. IM-1 was the first commercial mission to successfully soft-land on the Moon. NASA provided funding support for the mission through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The lander, named Odysseus, carried six NASA-developed payloads and several others from commercial and educational customers. On February 29, Odysseus lost power and shut down with the start of the lunar night.
IM-2 is an upcoming lunar mission that will be carried out in January 2025 by Intuitive Machines for NASA's CLPS program, using a Nova-C lunar lander. The company named this lander Athena. The mission aims to uncover the presence and amount of lunar water ice using PRIME-1, which consists of a drill and mass spectrometer. The lander will carry a Micro Nova Hopper, a drone that will utilize its neutron spectrometer in the PSR of the nearby Marston crater. If successful, this would provide the first measurement of hydrogen on the surface in the PSR, a key indicator of water.
Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost, or simply Blue Ghost, is a class of lunar landers designed and manufactured by Firefly Aerospace (Firefly). Firefly plans to operate Blue Ghost landers to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. The first Blue Ghost mission is scheduled for launch in 2024.
References
- ↑ "Commercial Lunar Payload Services - NASA" . Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ↑ Hardy, Ben (2024-02-28). "The Dawn of Commercial Lunar Exploration: How Odysseus Paved the Way for Future Moon Missions -" . Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ↑ "Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP) - NASA" . Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ↑ "Lunar Library II". Arch Mission Foundation - Preserving humanity forever, in space and on Earth. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- 1 2 Patel, Arjun (2024-03-19). "Quantum Aerospace Achieves Major Milestone with AstroVault Delivery to the Moon". Miami Weekly. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
- 1 2 Ellis, Sierra (2024-08-21). "DMX's Final Project: "Divine Master of the Unknown" Set to Reach the Moon". Hype Nation. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
- 1 2 Taylor, Chris (2019-04-17). "There may be a copy of Wikipedia somewhere on the moon. Here's how to help find it". Mashable. Retrieved 2024-10-21.