A New Private Moon Race Kicks Off Soon

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Scientific American - Technology

Commercial spacecraft are vying to land on the lunar surface, but can they jump-start a new space...

Although companies such as SpaceX have plans for crewed ships to the moon, none have made it past the prototype phase, so for now the new moon race is being pioneered by small companies such as Astrobotic.

The agency has been working on its own new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, since 2011, and scientists still plan new missions under its planetary exploration programs.

Outsourcing these smaller, near-term missions to industry is part of NASA's modern strategy of paying private companies to take on some of the load. NASA officials say a commercial lunar market will increase competition, drive down prices and ensure people will keep going back to the moon regardless of who occupies the White House.

Of course, the sustainability of any private enterprise depends on making money, and the prospects for a gold rush on the moon are still speculative.

Private moon missions are arguably the inevitable next step in a process that NASA set in motion 17 years ago, with the creation of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.

If the missions land safely, they will also pull off a lot of science, possibly answering some of the most urgent questions we still have about the moon.

The Schrödinger mission will carry a lunar seismometer-the first to land on the moon since Apollo and the first on the far side-along with a drill, to study the inside of the moon.

All these missions will answer key research questions, demonstrate new technologies, prepare scientists and astronauts for eventual human arrivals, and, if industry partners get their wish, stimulate a new kind of lunar economy.

"Where is the big demand going to come from, for visions of a marketplace on the moon with people walking around? That's exactly the tension I wrestle with and, I'm guessing, people in the industry wrestle with. There are definitely people hoping that tourism, manufacturing, things like that will pan out." Yet Weinzierl adds that Earth is full of unfettered capital, and space offers one new place to park it.

Lunar scientists tend to be of two minds about the prospect of cheap, frequent private flights to the moon.