USA Returns to the Moon, Part 1: Commercial Lunar Payload Services
Two Moon landings from USA, first in 51 years, set for new year; Astrobotic Peregrine launching NET Dec 24 / landing NET 25 Jan, Intuitive Machines Nova-C launching NET 12 Jan / landing NET 17 Jan; Both missions are independent efforts with NASA support through CLPS, conceived in May 2018 as commercial alternative to proposed Resource Prospector cancelled in April 2018; The $2.6B / 10-year program announced Nov 2018, with first awards including Astrobotic US$79.5M (TO2-AB), Intuitive Machines $77M (TO2-IM), with initial expected launch in July 2021; In total 8 CLPS landing missions are slated for launch between 2024-2026