Credit: Astrobotic

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is to soft land on the Moon courtesy of propulsion provider, Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Astrobotic plans to start delivering customer payloads once a year starting in 2020.

In a multi-mission deal announced today, Dynetics will integrate Peregrine’s main engines and attitude control thrusters, controller electronics, tanks, and feed system into a single system that performs all propulsive maneuvers from cruise to soft landing on the Moon.

Astrobotic-Dynetics agreement

According to an Astrobotic press statement, the Dynetics-led system will feature a propellant with a next-generation oxidizer called MON-25, which has a higher nitric oxide content to provide better thermal capability to operate more efficiently in deep space environments than previous oxidizers.

Astrobotic CEO John Thornton and Dynetics Space Division Manager Kim Doering sign the Peregrine Propulsion Teaming Agreement at Astrobotic’s Spacecraft High Bay in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Credit: Astrobotic

Dynetics will procure the engines from Simi Valley, California-based Frontier Aerospace, which is under contract with NASA to qualify the engines for lunar missions.

The new Astrobotic-Dynetics agreement is geared to support a dependable, low-cost manifest of missions that enables companies, governments, universities, and nonprofits to plan their campaigns of science, exploration, and commerce on the Moon.

Customer payloads

The Astrobotic lunar lander is designed to accommodate multiple customer payloads on a single flight, price-tagged at $1.2 million per kilogram.

Credit: Astrobotic

Founded in 2007, Astrobotic is an official partner with NASA through the Lunar CATALYST program, has 26 prior and ongoing NASA contracts, a commercial partnership with Airbus DS, a corporate sponsorship with DHL, 12 deals for its first mission to the Moon, and 130 customer payloads in the pipeline for upcoming missions.

A video depicting a Peregrine lander touching down on the Moon can be viewed at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeSTSrWJ0iM

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