Lunar Rover Missions: Will NASA, Other Countries Set Foot On Moon By 2022?

Robotic missions to Mars and developments in space tourism dominated space activities of 2021. However, NASA and other international space agencies expect the moon to stand out in 2022, as numerous firms and countries launch moon-bound spacecraft, including Lunar Rovers.

The year 2022 is set for the first steps toward the moon. For the first time, two new rockets vital to NASA's lunar aspirations will launch into orbit, each with greater power than the Apollo program's Saturn 5 rocket. Other countries are expected to join the moon-landing mission.

(Photo: NASA/AFP via Getty Images)
Picture taken 20 July 1969 of astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot walking on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (ML) "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA).

NASA CLPS Program Explained

Under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the United States will begin its first lunar landings in decades. CLPS is a continuation of NASA's long-standing policy of forming public-private partnerships for various space missions. COTS, or Commercial Orbital Transportation Service, transports freight to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Commercial Crew transports astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The Human Landing Systems program, according to The Hill, would send the first American astronauts to the moon in decades. CLPS plans to deploy several robotic probes to the moon. These lunar rovers will join those that have arrived from China.

Three NASA Lunar Landers For 2022

Three robotic lunar landers will reach the lunar surface in 2022 as part of a NASA mission if all goes according to plan.

Houston-based Intuitive Machines and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic are both hoping to launch miniature lunar landers with varied research payloads to the moon by the end of 2022. They made their lunar lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which aims to rely on private firms to deliver freight and research instruments into orbit to stimulate a commercial market.

The Nova-C lander, a six-legged cylindrical robot from Intuitive Machines, is set to fly in early 2022 on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, transporting a dozen payloads to the lunar surface. One of the devices on board will monitor the plume of lunar material churned up during Nova-C is an experiment that engineers hope will help them avoid future messy lunar landings. A miniature rover manufactured by Spacebit, a British firm, will also be launched from the lander. They might also send a second journey to the moon's surface in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Peregrine lander, designed by Astrobotic, is a boxy, four-legged lander with an onboard propulsion system that will land on a basaltic plain on the moon's northeastern quarter, carrying 14 scientific payloads. Peregrine will be ready for flight in the middle of 2022 on United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan rocket.

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UPI said NASA had awarded Intuitive a $77 million contract for its IM-1 mission, while Astrobotic's Peregrine lander has been awarded a $79.5 million contract for Peregrine Mission 1. The tasks are intended to look into potential landing locations and resources for NASA's planned crewed Artemis missions.

Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines' two robotic lander missions are intended to study landing locations and resources for NASA's planned Artemis crewed expedition.

However, when the rocket is ready to fly, it will determine if it launches on schedule. The launch of Vulcan has been delayed due to the rocket's engine provider, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space enterprise. It has yet to get its new BE-4 engines.

Other Lunar Landers

The New York Times said that three other countries' lunar landers would also attempt to reach the moon in 2022.

The Luna-25 lander, which might launch in mid-2022, will be Russia's first moon landing since the Soviet-era Luna-24 lander gathered lunar samples and returned them to Earth in 1976. The lander will investigate lunar soil and conduct technology tests in preparation for future Russian moon expeditions.

After the lander-rover bundle from India's Chandrayaan-2 mission failed in 2019, India wants to deploy the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover to the moon in the third quarter of 2022, trying its third lunar mission.

ispace, a Japanese space corporation, plans to launch its Mission 1 lunar lander in the second part of 2022. It will launch a pair of rovers if the landing is successful. The United Arab Emirates is producing one, a tiny four-wheeled robot named Rashid. Japan's space agency constructed a smaller robotic explorer, the size and form of a basketball. After deployment, it may turn into a rover by dividing itself in half and utilizing its halves as wheels to rove over the moon and investigate the soil.

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