NASA will face delays in its line-up for moon missions, as per a new report. The American space agency is facing hurdles in achieving its lunar goals this year due to technical complications, reveals four people familiar with NASA’s plans. This came after Peregrine Mission One, the US’s first commercial launch to Moon was crippled mid-way due to a technical glitch.
Further details on the delays in the moon missions and future plans are expected to be announced by NASA on Tuesday. NASA has already being tracking progress with its private partner’s part of the Artemis program to consider changes to the multi-billion dollar mission. With Artemis, the world will witness the first manned moon mission since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Delays in NASA’s moon missions due to developmental issues with private partners
NASA was in full swing for the launch of the Artemis-II mission, which was expected to launch in late 2024. But as Artemis’ spacecraft, Orion was discovered with issues in its crew capsule’s batteries, the launch is expected to be delayed further than 2024. The Lockheed Martin developed Orion crew capsule’s batteries are in need of a replacement after it didn’t pass the vibration tests, as per the report.
This would have been the first flight with humans aboard after launching the capsule uncrewed atop NASA’s Space Launch System in a 2022 inaugural test.
Artemis-III on the other hand, was planned to be the first mission to land humans on the moon in late 2025. The touchdown for this mission was to be done using the Starship landing system from NASA contractor SpaceX. It is likely that this deadline will also be pushed back further as Elon Musk’s SpaceX is taking longer than expected to reach certain development milestones.
As of now, NASA hasn’t commented anything on the matter. Previously, we saw senior NASA officials denying moving the inaugural Artemis astronaut landing to the fourth mission, as it was thought to provide some more time for practice before making the first such landing in half a century.
It is unclear what the new target dates for the initial Artemis mission would be as NASA’s Artemis program heavily depends on private companies.
Peregrine also abandoned the current mission
America’s first commercial launch to the Moon, Peregrine Mission One recently faced a technical issue midway after its launch. The snag emerged as a major blow to the hopes of the United States as it wanted to place its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades.
Peregrine Mission One’s Lander was built by Astrobotic Technology, and selected as a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). It was launched on January 8 by United Launch Alliance (ULA) aboard Vulcan Centaur.
(With inputs from agencies)
