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At 2:18 a.m. EST on January 8, the "Peregrine Falcon" was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida on board the "Vulcan Centaur" rocket developed by the United Launch Alliance, and will achieve a "soft landing" on the lunar surface on February 23 as planned. This is the first time that the United States has launched a mission to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, and it is also the first time that the private sector has undertaken this mission. The Peregrine mission is part of NASA's Lunar Commercial Launch Services Program (CLPS) and Artemis lunar landing programs.
About seven hours after the successful launch, developer Astrobotic Technology said that due to an "anomaly" in the thrusters, the ground team was working to try to resolve a problem with the Peregrine Falcon's directional attitude maneuver control against the sun. Unfortunately, the failure of the propulsion system appears to have led to a significant loss of propellant, and the team is evaluating a viable alternative mission profile. According to various observations, it is unlikely that Peregrine Falcon will complete a soft landing on the moon as planned.
-- A new round of lunar landings has been launched
At present, countries around the world are actively exploring the moon. By the end of 2018, a total of 116 unmanned lunar exploration missions had been carried out around the world, achieving lunar flyby, orbiting, landing, roving and sample return exploration. The climax of the first lunar exploration began in 1958 and ended in 1976, marked by the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, focusing on demonstrating national strength, opening the prelude to human deep space exploration, realizing the lunar flyby, impact, orbiting, soft landing, surface patrol, Unmanned sample return and manned lunar landing, of which Russia has completed 3 unmanned lunar sample returns, and the United States has achieved 6 manned lunar landings, obtaining unprecedented scientific exploration results, promoting the birth of a large number of emerging disciplines, and a large number of scientific and technological achievements are widely used in economic construction. The resurgence of lunar exploration is after the 90s of the 20th century, and major space-faring countries have launched and implemented lunar exploration activities, and as of December 2018, a total of 16 launches have been carried out (6 in the United States, 6 in China, 2 in Japan, 1 in Europe, and 1 in India). The new round of lunar exploration pays more attention to science-driven and the application of new technologies, aiming to obtain new scientific results, and the probes are more advanced in technology, more complete in functions and longer in life. Since the 90s, lunar exploration activities have shown the characteristics of clear scientific goals, many participating countries, long-term planning, and high success rate.
-- The United States is ahead, and China and Russia are tied for second
On the whole, the world's aerospace industry presents a "pyramid" pattern. The strength of the aerospace industry in the United States and Europe is in the first echelon, firmly in the "spire" position; China is tied with Russia in the second echelon; India, Japan and Israel are in the third tier. The second echelon, together with the third echelon, forms the backbone of the pyramid.
-- The United States has the best degree of commercialization of the moon landing
From the perspective of the research and development model of lunar exploration technology in the three countries, the United States has the best degree of commercialization in this field, while China and Russia are also actively attracting private capital, but it is mainly controlled by state-owned enterprises.
China's moon landing: At present, China's commercial space industry is in a development stage dominated by "commercial spaceflight", that is, commercial space activities are carried out mainly by national space enterprises, and in the process, it is becoming more and more open to cooperation with private space companies and absorbing social financial capital.
Russia: After the collapse of the former Soviet Union, Russia fully implemented a market economy system, and space companies have also undergone large-scale restructuring, with the Russian Federal Space Agency statistically managing military, civilian and commercial space activities. Although the main direction of the reform of aerospace enterprises is to build a number of large group companies, the important aerospace industry forces are still state-owned or state-controlled. At present, the management of Russia's major space projects is a centralized hybrid management model: the main characteristics are three points: 1. a relatively centralized management system, 2) a decision-making mechanism for relative development, and 2) an emphasis on strategic planning to attract multiple resources.
The industry believes that the "Peregrine Falcon" mission will set the tone for NASA's next phase of lunar exploration, that is, outsourcing related tasks to the private sector, first exploring the moon with probes and then launching manned missions. Joel Kearns, NASA's deputy administrator for space exploration, has previously said that while using private companies to deliver cargo to the moon would be more economical, faster and riskier than going through the traditional government route, NASA would be willing to accept the risk.
Yang Liwei, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said that China is conducting pre-research and preliminary preparations for a manned landing on the moon, and although the project has not yet been approved, it should not take too long. Chinese astronauts are expected to land on the moon around 2030.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
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