Whether or not the Apollo manned moon landing carried out by the United States in the last century was real? It has always been a topic of debate among science enthusiasts, and many people think that the Apollo manned moon landing was a "hoax" and was filmed in a studio, and of course there are also many people who think that the Apollo manned moon landing is indeed real and that the United States has been to the moon before.
After more than 50 years, the United States has once again proposed the goal of returning astronauts to the moon, but their return to the moon is difficult. The Peregrine Falcon lunar lander, launched this month, carries the vision of the first US lunar landing in more than 50 years, and was originally planned to land on the moon on February 23 this year, realizing the first US lunar landing in more than 50 years. But they officially declared that the mission to the moon had failed, "abandoning attempts to send it to the moon." What's going on?
On January 8, 2024, the United States launched a lunar lander called the "Peregrine Falcon", which is the first time that the United States has carried out a lunar mission in more than 50 years, and it is also the first time that a private company in the United States has challenged the lunar mission. Just as everyone was waiting for the probe to have the next flight action, a news came that the mission to the moon had been "abandoned".
Astrobotic announced that the chances of a soft landing on the moon are no longer there due to a leak in the probe's propellant. Aerospace Robotics said the probe's propellant is expected to run out in 40 hours, but it is still trying to "save" the probe in hopes of finding a way to extend the life of the Peregrine lander.
In fact, researchers discovered the problem just hours after the launch of the Peregrine lander, when the probe's solar panels were trying to charge the battery in the direction of the sun, and then it was also discovered that there was a leak in the probe's recommendation system, and the probe deviated from its original orbit.
While engineers are still trying, once the probe's propellant is completely depleted, its solar panels will no longer be able to receive solar energy, and the power will soon be gone.
After a lapse of more than 50 years, the current technology has far surpassed that of more than 50 years ago, and more than 50 years ago, the United States was able to achieve a manned landing on the moon, and it was the six Apollo spacecraft that successfully landed on the surface of the moon and successfully returned to the earth.
From a technical point of view, it is true that it is more advanced than before, but it is still more difficult to land on the moon. And with the cancellation of the Peregrine lander's mission to the moon, the United States' plans to return to the moon with a manned person have also suffered a huge blow.
The Peregrine lander's mission to the moon can be seen as the first step in the United States' return to the moon, and the failure of this mission has dealt a major blow to the American space industry, adversely affecting both the Artemis return to the moon program and the Lunar Commercial Delivery Service Program (CLPS).
Previously, the United States had successfully carried out the Artemis 1 mission, launched a non-manned Orion spacecraft to complete the mission around the moon, and successfully returned to Earth. According to previous plans, the United States planned to carry out the Artemis 2 mission in 2024, launching the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts around the moon and then return to Earth. This will be followed by the Artemis 3 mission in 2025, launching the Orion spacecraft to send astronauts to the moon, achieving the goal of returning astronauts to the moon.
And now the United States has announced that the manned return to the moon program has been postponed, and the Artemis 2 manned mission around the moon has been postponed until September 2025, and the Artemis 3 manned return to the moon program has been postponed until September 2026.
This lunar mission can be said to have dealt a heavy blow to the US lunar landing program, and if there are still problems with the follow-up development work, then the time for the United States to return to the moon may continue to be delayed. After all, they now plan to use the newly developed Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket to complete a manned landing on the moon, and these new equipment needs to be tested and confirmed to be reliable before they can carry out a manned lunar landing. If there are still problems during the testing of the product, it is a foregone conclusion that the manned return to the moon will continue to be postponed.
And the United States' manned return to the moon program continues to be postponed, and it may really be overtaken by our China. Because we have officially announced that we will achieve the first manned landing of Chinese on the moon by 2030. Although from the perspective of time, the United States may return to the moon earlier than us in September 2026, but if the return of the United States to the moon continues to be delayed, and our rockets and spacecraft are developed more smoothly, we may indeed land on the moon before them.