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Peregrine 1 (CLPS 1, TO2-AB)

Peregrine 1 [Astrobotic Technology]

Peregrine is a lunar lander privately developed by Astrobotic Technology. It was originally an entry for the Google Lunar-X-Prize, but became available as a commercial mission, flying payloads for NASA's CLPS program and for other customers.

The Peregrine Lunar Lander will fly 35 kilograms of customer payloads on its first mission, with the option to upgrade to 265 kilograms on future missions. Already 11 deals from six nations have been signed for this 2019 mission. The first mission in 2019 will serve as a key demonstration of service for NASA, international space agencies, and companies looking to carry out missions to the Moon.

Peregrine is powered by a Dynetics propulsion system featuring next generation space engine technology. Peregrine has four tanks surrounding a cluster of five Frontier Aerospace TALOS-150 engines. Clusters of TALOS-10 attitude control thrusters orient the craft. The main engines are concentric with the spacecraft central axis and perform translunar injection, trajectory correction maneuvers, lunar orbit insertion, de-orbit, brake, and decent.

In July 2017 Astrobotic Technology announced, that they have selected ULA to launch the Peregrine mission in 2019 on a shared Atlas-5 rocket, which is too late for the Google Lunar X Prize, but which will serve as a pathfinder for future commercialization.

In May 2019, Astrobotic's Peregrine was selected by NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to deliver up to 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis by July 2021 to support the Artemis lunar program. The Peregrine lander might be launched either on a shared or dedicated launch vehicle. In August 2019 it was announced, that Peregrine 1 will fly on the maiden Vulcan Centaur VC2S rocket, on a shared launch. In early 2023 a new landing site was selected, which increases the scientific value of the NASA payloads. The new landing site will be outside of the Gruithuisen Domes, a geologic enigma along the mare/highlands boundary on the northeast border of Oceanus Procellarum in an area called Sinus Viscositatis.

Following NASA payloads have been selected for the mission:

  • Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) - Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
  • Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS): The LETS radiation sensor will collect information about the lunar radiation environment and relies on flight-proven hardware that flew in space on the Orion spacecraft’s inaugural uncrewed flight in 2014. It is being developed at NASA Johnson.
  • Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS): NIRVSS will measure surface and subsurface hydration, carbon dioxide and methane – all resources that could potentially be mined from the Moon — while also mapping surface temperature and changes at the landing site. It is being developed at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.
  • Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS): NSS will search for indications of water-ice near the lunar surface by measuring how much hydrogen-bearing materials are at the landing site as well as determine the overall bulk composition of the regolith there. NSS is being developed at NASA Ames.
  • PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) for Lunar Surface Volatiles: PITMS will characterize the lunar exosphere after descent and landing and throughout the lunar day to understand the release and movement of volatiles. It was previously developed for ESA’s Rosetta mission and is being modified for this mission by NASA Goddard and ESA.
  • NDL (Navigation Doppler Lidar), a LIDAR-based (Light Detection and Ranging) descent and landing sensor.
Payloads for other customers are:
  • The 2 kg Iris rover designed by university students at Carnegie Mellon University.
  • Five tiny Colmena picorovers by Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM), the Mexican Space Agency. The payload consists of five small robots, weighing less than 60 grams and measuring 12 centimeters in diameter, will be catapulted onto the lunar surface.
  • DLR's M-42 radiation detector
  • 13 passive memorial, commercial and art capsules. These includes "space burial" capsules for Celestis (Celestis 19, Luna-02) and Elysium Space carrying samples of human ashes.

Peregrine 1 was successfully launched on 8 January 2024 on the maiden flight of the Vulcan launch vehicle. Soon after launch, it experienced a failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant. The Astrobotics team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, a lunar landing has likely become impossible and focus may now be to get as much engineering and science data as possible on alternative mission profiles.

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Lunar lander
Operator: Astrobotic Technology
Contractors: Astrobotic Technology
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion: 5 × TALOS-150 thrusters
Power: Solar cells, batteries
Lifetime:
Mass: 1283 kg (#1)
Orbit:
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Peregrine 1 (CLPS 1, TO2-AB) 2024-006A 08.01.2024 CC SLC-41 Vulcan Centaur VC2S with Celestis 20

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