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One Small Step for Lunar Commerce: Onetime Google XPRIZE contender Astrobotic inks a deal with [ULA]
airspacemag.com ^ | August 31, 2017 3:30PM | Chris Klimek

Posted on 08/31/2017 6:25:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, once considered a frontrunner for Google’s $20 million Lunar XPRIZE until it withdrew from competition last December citing unrealistic deadlines, announced recently that it has chosen United Launch Alliance as its partner for a planned moon landing in 2019—the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

While the selection of a ULA Atlas V rocket as Astrobotic’s taxi service to geosynchronous Earth orbit is new, the remainder of the plan has been in place for some time: Astrobotic’s Peregrine landing craft will take three to six months to ride the gravitational fields of Earth, the moon, and sun, then make its final fall to the lunar surface.

...

The low-energy descent that Peregrine will fly has been used for successful landings in at least three prior instances: NASA’s GRAIL in 2011, the Japanese space agency’s Hiten in 1990, and the European Space Agency’s SMART-1 in 2003. Astrobotic says Peregrine will deliver 77 pounds of payload to the surface on its first descent, and will have the capacity to carry up to 584 pounds on future missions. Astrobotic CEO John Thornton believes business will see an uptick once the company has a successful landing under its belt, and that the increase in customers will allow it to offer faster, costlier routes to the moon.

(Excerpt) Read more at airspacemag.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: astrobotic; peregrine; pittsburgh

1 posted on 08/31/2017 6:25:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Did you know that Niel Armstrong blew that famous line. “ One small step for man , One giant leap for mankind “? That was redundant. It was rehearsed to be “one small step for “A” man . One giant leap for mankind it Otherwise it makes no sense at all. It was confirmed that it was an error many times. I am just amazed at how uneducated the media was on basic English.


2 posted on 08/31/2017 7:06:05 PM PDT by raiderboy ( "...if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”)
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To: raiderboy

Government boondoggle.

Imagine, the first time the human race steps on to another world, the first words spoken,

Armstrong blew it. Forever more ...
No second chance. No changing history. LOL


3 posted on 08/31/2017 8:48:13 PM PDT by TheNext (Obamacare is KILLING GRANDMA!)
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To: TheNext

“...No changing history....”

There are groups trying to just that by tearing down statues they don’t like.


4 posted on 08/31/2017 9:24:50 PM PDT by NCC-1701 ((You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.))
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To: NCC-1701

Changing or eliminating history - let’s not forget the huge effort to deny that any landing happened ... NASA destroying mountains of data an photo negatives haven’t helped dispel the effort.


5 posted on 09/01/2017 5:09:28 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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