Astrobotic just offered a better new look at the Moon Lander that will be carrying scientific payloads to the lunar surface, as they just revealed the finished version of the peregrine moon lander ahead of the launch in the fourth quarter this year. The moon lander’s design is very externally simple and resembles an upside-down pot, but that will be enough to carry 24 missions, including eleven NASA items and a Carnegie Mellon Rover, a private cargo, and Even cultural messages from Earth.
The satellite is slightly over 6 feet tall and can hold up to 100 kilograms of payload more importantly for customers, it’s very cheap as it will cost $1.2 million per kilogram to ferry payloads to the moon’s surface. It sounds very expensive, but it is a very big bargain compared to the cost of rocket launches. SpaceX currently charges $67 million for every Falcon 9 launch that only reaches the Earth’s orbit.
The team still has to finish integrating payloads, conduct environmental testing and ship the satellite to Cape Canaveral, where it will launch with a ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. This machine is going to be making history if it is successful in its mission. It’s also expected to be the first US spacecraft to properly land on the moon since the Apollo program ended.
