See Correction/Clarification at the end of this article.
United Launch Alliance has won a contract to launch a private company's test spacecraft to the moon in 2019.
The Centennial-based company's Atlas V rocket was chosen to carry Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology Inc.'s Peregrine Lunar Lander on its first mission. The Peregrine is designed to carry paying customers' payloads to the lunar surface.
“The moon is the next great frontier, but in a different way than when Neil Armstrong landed there," said Tory Bruno, ULA's CEO. "Enabling technologies like those from Astrobotic will allow people to live and work in the space between here and the moon and take advantage of all those resources in a way that is sustainable.”
The Pergrine lander's first flight is slated to carry about 77 pounds of payload to the moon's surface as a demonstration. The Astrobotic spacecraft is designed to carry as much as 583 pounds of payload on future missions.
The craft passed design review last year. Astrobotic says it has 11 payload customers in six countries signed up for the first flight in 2019.
Astrobotic chose ULA to launch the maiden Peregrine because of its proven flight record, CEO John Thornton said in an announcement. ULA leads the launch industry worldwide in reliability, with 117 consecutive successful space launches.
“Technical credibility and signed deals remain key differentiators for Astrobotic as a lunar delivery company. Our customers and partners know that our 10 years of lunar lander development work has made us the world leader in this market,” Thornton said.
Arstrobotics is working with ULA, NASA, shipping logistics company DHL, aircraft manufacturer Airbus and others to establish its Peregrine Lunar Lander transport service. It charges $1.2 million per kilogram for moon access, offering multiple payloads delivered to the surface on each flight.
ULA has stiff competition from Elon Musk's SpaceX for rocket launches to low-earth orbit, where most satellites and the International Space Station fly.
But ULA has experience launching missions with precision deeper into space using its Centaur upper stage rocket engine. Bruno talks of ULA becoming the transportation provider between the earth and areas around the moon, known as cis-lunar space, for companies seeking mine, manufacture and establish other kinds of industrial activities deeper into space.
United Launch Alliance is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. It has about 3,000 employees spread among its Centennial headquarters, NASA launch sites in Florida and California, and at its manufacturing plants in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas.
Correction/Clarification
An earlier version of this story incorrectly cited the weight of the payload planned for the initial Peregrine lander.
