Fast Technology reported on December 3 that according to foreign media reports, more than 50 years after the completion of the Apollo mission, the United States will restart the lunar landing program on January 25 and land the spacecraft on the moon.
The spacecraft, called the Peregrine Falcon, was developed by the American company Astrobotic.
The company's chief executive, John Thornton, said it would carry NASA instruments to study the lunar environment in anticipation of NASA's Artemis manned mission.
John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, said one of the company's biggest challenges was to launch at a very low cost and land on the surface of the moon.
So it's definitely going to be a tough challenge. At each stage of the process, I felt both fear and excitement at the same time. ”
It is reported that the new rocket, called Vulcan Centaur, is scheduled to take off from Florida on December 24 for its first flight.
Chris Culbert, head of NASA's CLPS lunar landing program, said it hopes to establish a base on the lunar surface through Altemis.
Thornton said it would take "a few days" for the probe to reach the moon's orbit, but would have to wait until Jan. 25 to attempt a landing so that the light conditions at the target location would be suitable.
The descent will take place autonomously without human intervention, but will be monitored by the company's control center.
It is worth mentioning that this spring, the Japanese startup ispace has already tried to become the first private company to land on the moon, but the mission ended in failure, and Israel also suffered a setback in 2019.
So far, only four countries have managed to land on the moon: the United States, Russia, China, and most recently, India.