SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket will send a private lander to the moon: what is known (photo)

Share: The launch of the Griffin lunar lander was scheduled for late 2025, but has now been pushed back to July 2026. US company Astrobotic's Griffin lunar lander with payloads from NASA and private companies, including the Astrobotic and Astrolab rovers, will not fly to the moon later this year as planned. But this launch should take place in July of next year with the help of a powerful rocket carrier Falcon Heavy company SpaceX, writes Space. In Focus. Technologies has its own Telegram channel.

Subscribe so you don't miss the latest and most exciting news from the world of science! Astrobotic will attempt to land its lunar module on the surface of the moon for the second time. Her first lunar landing module, Peregrine, as Focus has already written, failed to reach the Moon in January 2024 due to a fuel leak shortly after launch.

Like the Peregrine module, the Griffin lander was created as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which funds private company missions to the moon to deliver payloads in support of the Artemis program. This is a NASA program aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon in the coming years and establishing a long-term human presence on Earth's satellite. Initially, NASA planned to launch its VIPER lunar probe aboard the Griffin lander to search for water ice deposits on the Moon.

But this mission was canceled, as Focus already wrote, in 2024. However, it is planned that VIPER will still go to the moon in 2027. NASA plans to use water ice on the moon to support its manned missions. From it, you can extract water necessary for drinking, and you can also split water into oxygen and hydrogen. As a result, you can get oxygen for breathing, as well as the necessary components for creating rocket fuel on the moon.

Now Astrolab's FLIP rover, as well as Astrobotic's CubeRover, will go to the Moon on board the Griffin module. The module will also carry several more payloads from NASA and other private companies. According to a statement from Astrobotic, the company has almost completed assembling the main structure of the Griffin, with the engines and solar panels already installed.

Next, the fuel tanks will be installed, after which Astrobotic will prepare the lander for testing in conditions that simulate conditions on the Moon. Astrobotic is set to send the Griffin lander to the moon in July 2026 aboard a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. This will be the 12th launch of this rocket into space. The Falcon Heavy consists of two main stages, and modified stages of the Falcon 9 rocket are attached to the lower stage as accelerators.