Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based lunar lander company, faced a challenging year in 2022 with its first spacecraft, Peregrine, failing shortly after launch due to a propellant leak. This issue prompted concerns over the viability of Astrobotic's subsequent mission to deliver NASA's VIPER rover, leading to the cancellation of the contract worth over $300 million. Despite the setbacks, NASA has allowed Astrobotic to proceed with a mass simulator mission, thus supporting the development of lunar infrastructure and economy.
It was a tough year," John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, said in an interview. "Certainly the challenges we had with Peregrine were unexpected, and a big setback. Then of course when VIPER was removed, that was definitely a setback. Our team felt that."
NASA had committed to the contract and said Astrobotic could fly a mass simulator to the Moon. The goal of the space agency's "commercial lunar" program is to stimulate the development of a lunar economy.
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