SpaceX will carry Masten lunar lander to the moon in 2022

By Georgina Torbet Published April 28, 2022

SpaceX has another mission to the moon, as it has been contracted to deliver a lunar lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. It will deliver the lander from another private company, Masten Space Systems, which will explore the moon’s south pole in a mission set to launch in late 2022.

The MM1 mission aims to investigate the moon’s pole with a lander equipped with scientific instruments and other payloads from commercial space companies. The poles of the moon are known to host water ice in shadowed areas that form cold traps, and this could be an important resource for future crewed lunar exploration. As well as NASA instruments which will be carried by Masten’s XL-1, the company says it will also provide opportunities for other commercial partners to send payloads to the moon as part of this mission.

Illustration of of Masten's XL-1 lunar lander — Illustration of Masten’s XL-1 lunar lander on the surface of the moon Masten Space Systems

The contract does not state which vehicle SpaceX will use to deliver the payload — presumably, the aim is to use the upcoming Starship, but this hasn’t been confirmed — but Masten says it is happy to have SpaceX on board.

Recommended Videos

“Having SpaceX’s proven launch success behind us is not only great for us, but it’s great for our customers,” Masten chief executive officer, Sean Mahoney, said in a statement. “We share a common vision with SpaceX and that makes this more than a partnership. It’s more like a dream team.”

This adds Masten to a roster of lunar mission which will make use of SpaceX technology for traveling to the moon, including another NASA CLPS mission from Intuitive Machines. NASA says that by inviting commercial partners to participate in lunar missions under the CLPS program, it aims to advance the scientific exploration of the moon and to build a commercial industry around lunar resources and exploration.

“We are thrilled to be launching Masten’s Mission One to the Moon in 2022,” SpaceX senior director of commercial sales Stephanie Bednarek said in the statement. “SpaceX was founded upon the goal of extending humanity’s reach beyond Earth, and it’s exciting to take part in a mission with many partners who share the same vision.”

Georgina Torbet

Former Space Writer

Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…

Topics

Space

SpaceX Starship reaches orbit for the first time but its historic flight ends early

Starship reaches orbit for the first time and deploys 26 Starlink satellites before an early splashdown.

spacex-starship

After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180

Space

Starship is finally going orbital, and SpaceX has picked September 22

Flight 14 is aiming for orbit, Starlink V3 deployment and a very long day in space.

Starship rocket.

SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.

Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver

Space

Want a city on the Moon? Scientists say there’s not enough water

A billion tons still comes up short

Artist impression of activities in a Moon Base.

For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.

A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.