First Commercial Moon Launch: Astrobotic Peregrine Mission 1 (Official NASA Broadcast)

NASA

Watch Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket. ULA and Astrobotic are targeting 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 UTC) Monday, Jan. 8, 2023, for the first commercial robotic launch to the Moon’s surface. The NASA payloads aboard the lander aim to help us develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis and in advance of human missions on the lunar surface.  For more information about our Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/3RFR0A5  Credit: NASA  Thumbnail photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Transcript

00:00:00 [ Music ]

00:00:24 >> This is a live view

00:00:25 of United Launch Alliance's new

00:00:27 Vulcan rocket on Launch Pad 41

00:00:30 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space

00:00:31 Force Station.

00:00:32 It will launch a spacecraft

00:00:33 that will land on the moon,

00:00:35 making it one

00:00:36 of the first lunar landings

00:00:37 for the US

00:00:38 since the final Apollo mission

00:00:40 over 50 years ago.

00:00:42 Good morning and thank you

00:00:44 for joining us

00:00:44 on the Space Coast of Florida.

00:00:45 I'm NASA's Megan Cruz

00:00:47 and you are watching the first

00:00:48 launch of NASA's

00:00:49 CLPS initiative.

00:00:51 CLPS is short

00:00:52 for Commercial Lunar Payload

00:00:53 Services, a model

00:00:55 in which NASA contracts space

00:00:56 on commercial missions

00:00:58 to send science

00:00:59 and technology to the moon.

00:01:00 These deliveries will mean more

00:01:02 exploration of the moon

00:01:03 than ever before

00:01:04 and will help us prepare

00:01:06 for the first woman

00:01:07 and first person of color

00:01:09 to land on the lunar surface

00:01:10 under NASA's Artemis program.

00:01:12 For today's launch,

00:01:13 NASA selected Astrobotic

00:01:15 to deliver its five

00:01:16 lunar instruments.

00:01:17 This is the first mission

00:01:19 for the Peregrine spacecraft.

00:01:20 Today is also the first launch

00:01:22 of ULA's new Vulcan rocket,

00:01:24 so a lot of firsts today.

00:01:25 Now we have a 45-minute launch

00:01:28 window that opens

00:01:28 at 2.18.38 Eastern time.

00:01:32 But you'll notice that clock

00:01:33 on the upper left-hand corner

00:01:35 of your screen.

00:01:35 It says T-minus seven minutes.

00:01:38 That's because the ULA team is

00:01:40 in a planned hold.

00:01:41 Basically, they baked extra time

00:01:43 into the countdown

00:01:44 to make sure everything's good

00:01:46 for launch.

00:01:46 You'll see that clock start

00:01:48 to count down again

00:01:49 when we are actually seven

00:01:51 minutes to the opening

00:01:52 of the launch window.

00:01:53 Helping me to share today's

00:01:55 firsts are commentators

00:01:56 from both our commercial

00:01:57 partners.

00:01:58 We have astrobotics Olivia

00:01:59 Chapla, but first,

00:02:00 let's start with ULA's Amanda

00:02:02 Sterling with a check

00:02:03 of how the rocket is doing.

00:02:04 >> Thanks, Megan,

00:02:07 and good morning.

00:02:07 I'm Amanda Sterling,

00:02:09 a structural engineer

00:02:10 and program management leader

00:02:11 at United Launch Alliance.

00:02:13 I'm joining you

00:02:14 from the Advanced Spaceflight

00:02:16 Operations Center

00:02:17 at Cape Canaveral.

00:02:17 This is an exciting place to be

00:02:21 as the ULA team counts

00:02:24 down to liftoff

00:02:25 of Vulcan's inaugural flight.

00:02:27 Right now, the Vulcan booster

00:02:29 and Centaur upper stage are

00:02:30 fueled while the launch team

00:02:32 continues final preps.

00:02:33 As Megan mentioned,

00:02:35 the launch count remains

00:02:37 in a planned hold.

00:02:38 The ULA team is currently not

00:02:40 working any issues,

00:02:41 and we're on track

00:02:42 for an on-time launch

00:02:43 at 2/18/38 a.m. Eastern.

00:02:45 Coming up,

00:02:48 Space Launch Delta 45 will

00:02:50 provide a final weather

00:02:51 briefing in about 15 minutes.

00:02:53 At the moment,

00:02:54 our weather looks good

00:02:55 with just a 15% probability

00:02:57 of violation

00:02:58 through the 45-minute launch

00:02:59 window we have available

00:03:00 this morning.

00:03:01 Now, I'll send it back

00:03:03 to you, Megan.

00:03:04 >> Thank you, Amanda.

00:03:05 It's great to hear

00:03:05 that 85% go for tonight.

00:03:07 Now, let's take a closer look

00:03:09 at the Peregrine 1 spacecraft.

00:03:11 It's about 6.2 feet tall

00:03:13 and 8.2 feet wide,

00:03:15 made mostly of aluminum

00:03:16 and carbon fiber.

00:03:17 The four landing legs have a

00:03:19 honeycomb design on the inside

00:03:21 to absorb Peregrine's touchdown

00:03:23 on the lunar surface.

00:03:24 Its solar panel is mounted

00:03:25 to the top of the spacecraft.

00:03:27 The payload decks

00:03:28 at the center will carry 20

00:03:30 payloads from seven countries.

00:03:32 And finally, it has over one mile

00:03:34 of cables and wiring.

00:03:35 Our broadcast

00:03:37 on NASA TV today will cover

00:03:38 Peregrine's separation

00:03:40 around 3.09 a.m. Eastern time,

00:03:42 followed by acquisition

00:03:43 of signal shortly after.

00:03:44 For more on the company

00:03:46 that built Peregrine,

00:03:46 here's Astrobotics'

00:03:47 Olivia Chapla.

00:03:48 >> Thanks, Megan.

00:03:50 And thanks to all

00:03:51 of you for tuning in.

00:03:52 I'm Olivia Chapla,

00:03:53 and I can't tell you how pleased

00:03:55 I am to be here representing

00:03:57 Astrobotic as the Director

00:03:58 of Marketing and Communications.

00:04:00 We're a small but mighty team

00:04:02 of about 260 people.

00:04:04 Together, our real goal is

00:04:06 to make space accessible

00:04:07 to the world.

00:04:08 And today, we are particularly

00:04:10 focused on the moon.

00:04:11 Astrobotic built the Peregrine

00:04:13 spacecraft as part of our fleet

00:04:14 of lunar landers designed

00:04:16 to deliver cargo, called payloads,

00:04:17 to the moon's surface.

00:04:19 Over the past three years,

00:04:21 I have watched the Astrobotic

00:04:22 team build this Peregrine

00:04:24 spacecraft launching today.

00:04:25 I've been there alongside them

00:04:27 during the long days,

00:04:28 late nights,

00:04:29 and for the ridiculously early

00:04:31 mornings when we shipped Peregrine

00:04:33 to Cape Canaveral in preparation

00:04:35 for launch today.

00:04:36 I am personally so excited

00:04:38 to be here because this mission

00:04:39 really marks the beginning

00:04:40 of a historic time.

00:04:42 The United States hasn't soft

00:04:44 landed on the moon

00:04:45 since NASA's Apollo program more

00:04:47 than 50 years ago.

00:04:48 And only a handful

00:04:50 of countries have ever

00:04:51 successfully landed

00:04:52 on the lunar surface.

00:04:53 Astrobotic's aim is

00:04:54 to not only return the American

00:04:56 flag to the moon again

00:04:57 with Peregrine,

00:04:58 but also to start regular

00:05:00 commercial lunar deliveries

00:05:01 to the moon's surface.

00:05:02 Now, let's hear a little more

00:05:05 from our founder and CEO,

00:05:06 John Thornton.

00:05:07 >> Astrobotic's goal is

00:05:11 to make space accessible

00:05:12 to the world.

00:05:13 And what that means

00:05:14 to us is making it possible

00:05:15 for space agencies

00:05:16 and commercial organizations

00:05:18 and ultimately the individual all

00:05:19 around the world to access the

00:05:21 moon in ways that have never been

00:05:22 possible before.

00:05:23 The big thing that we're known

00:05:25 for is our two lunar missions

00:05:26 to go to the surface of the moon.

00:05:27 Our first one is about to launch

00:05:29 and our second one flies in 2024.

00:05:31 Astrobotic already has a wide

00:05:35 array of contracts from rovers

00:05:37 and landers and now the

00:05:39 beginnings of power systems

00:05:40 that can be deployed

00:05:41 on the surface of the moon.

00:05:42 So we are not only thinking

00:05:43 about lunar delivery,

00:05:44 we're thinking

00:05:45 about the next step.

00:05:46 We're thinking about rovers

00:05:47 that can drive.

00:05:48 We're thinking about power

00:05:49 systems that can deploy

00:05:50 and provide sustaining power

00:05:52 at the poles of the moon.

00:05:53 These are all of the pieces

00:05:54 that we need, the infrastructure

00:05:56 that we need to take our next

00:05:57 step to make the moon a place

00:05:59 that we can sustain and live

00:06:00 and have astronauts do science

00:06:03 and exploration

00:06:03 and one day use the resources

00:06:06 of the moon for in-space

00:06:07 purposes and perhaps eventually

00:06:09 bring those resources back

00:06:10 to earth.

00:06:10 Pittsburgh startups

00:06:12 and space startups

00:06:13 in particular are not supposed

00:06:15 to succeed.

00:06:16 You're supposed to be

00:06:17 in Florida.

00:06:17 You're supposed to be

00:06:18 in Houston.

00:06:18 You're supposed to be in LA.

00:06:20 But yet here we are in Pittsburgh

00:06:22 with our very first spacecraft

00:06:24 on the launch pad ready to go.

00:06:25 We have more

00:06:27 than a dozen instruments flying

00:06:28 on our very first mission

00:06:30 from all over the world.

00:06:31 Six new nations will touch the

00:06:33 surface of the moon

00:06:34 with just our first mission.

00:06:36 This mission was done

00:06:38 on a relative shoestring budget.

00:06:40 This is a much more affordable

00:06:41 mission that has historically

00:06:43 occurred.

00:06:43 Regardless of challenges,

00:06:45 we have to continue to strive

00:06:47 toward that future

00:06:48 of making space accessible

00:06:50 to the world

00:06:50 and to see what's possible

00:06:52 when you come together

00:06:53 to overcome the biggest

00:06:54 challenge of all,

00:06:55 landing on the surface

00:06:56 of the moon.

00:06:57 Astrobotic is among a pool

00:07:01 of vendors that can bid

00:07:02 on contracts

00:07:03 for future NASA deliveries.

00:07:04 This model will hopefully mean

00:07:06 frequent, rapid,

00:07:07 and affordable access

00:07:08 to the moon.

00:07:09 Our moon.

00:07:13 It seems so close

00:07:14 in the night sky.

00:07:15 But getting there is really

00:07:17 hard.

00:07:19 But what if there was a way

00:07:20 to change that?

00:07:21 Only a few nations have

00:07:23 successfully landed

00:07:25 on the moon.

00:07:25 As NASA sends astronauts back

00:07:29 to the lunar surface,

00:07:29 this time to stay,

00:07:31 we will need to send science

00:07:33 and technology instruments ahead

00:07:35 of time to lay the foundation

00:07:38 for human exploration.

00:07:39 To make this happen,

00:07:41 NASA is helping establish a

00:07:43 commercial lunar economy.

00:07:44 For the first time ever,

00:07:46 there will be commercial

00:07:48 delivery services

00:07:49 to the moon.

00:07:50 We are enabling American

00:07:52 companies to send our payloads

00:07:54 to the lunar surface for us.

00:07:55 These delivery services will

00:07:57 expand our capabilities

00:07:59 for exploration,

00:08:00 radically increasing the amount

00:08:02 of science we can achieve.

00:08:03 This high-risk,

00:08:05 high-reward initiative will

00:08:06 invest in and leverage the

00:08:08 entrepreneurial spirit

00:08:10 of American innovation

00:08:11 to launch a commercial lunar

00:08:13 marketplace,

00:08:14 advancing technology

00:08:16 and exploration for all of us.

00:08:18 With this never-before-seen

00:08:20 streamlined access to the moon,

00:08:22 we will be able

00:08:23 to make novel measurements

00:08:24 and develop technologies

00:08:26 that scientists have long wanted

00:08:28 to do on the lunar surface.

00:08:29 And as this new industry

00:08:32 matures, this commercial

00:08:34 delivery service for NASA

00:08:35 and other customers could expand

00:08:38 beyond the moon

00:08:39 to other destinations

00:08:40 in our solar system.

00:08:41 And we can learn to live

00:08:43 on another world

00:08:44 because we are exploring.

00:08:47 Explorers.

00:08:48 Flying on commercial missions

00:08:53 will mean cost savings

00:08:55 for NASA, as we've said,

00:08:56 but this approach has risks.

00:08:57 So to explain,

00:08:58 I have Joel Kearns here.

00:08:59 He's the deputy associate

00:09:01 administrator for exploration

00:09:02 in NASA's Science

00:09:03 Mission Directorate.

00:09:04 Good morning, Joel.

00:09:05 Hey, good morning, Megan.

00:09:06 So talk to me about

00:09:08 why we want commercial companies

00:09:10 sending our science experiments.

00:09:11 Why don't we send them ourselves?

00:09:12 Well, you know, NASA is really good

00:09:14 at sending robotic science probes

00:09:16 throughout the solar system,

00:09:17 but it takes a lot of effort.

00:09:19 It takes a lot of time.

00:09:20 And for a big push to do science

00:09:22 and technology on the moon

00:09:23 as part of Artemis,

00:09:25 we want to take a new approach.

00:09:26 We want to tap into the new ideas,

00:09:28 the entrepreneurial spirit

00:09:30 and all the engineering innovation

00:09:31 that these small companies

00:09:33 and startup companies

00:09:34 bring in the United States.

00:09:35 We think they can help make

00:09:36 the overall moon effort much better.

00:09:38 But isn't it riskier for us

00:09:40 to depend on others

00:09:41 versus us doing it ourselves?

00:09:42 You know, there is a different level

00:09:44 of risk that we all had to understand

00:09:45 and agree to when we started down this.

00:09:47 Like I said, we understand

00:09:49 how to do robotic science

00:09:50 missions at NASA.

00:09:51 But we do know that these companies

00:09:53 have a lot of good, interesting ideas

00:09:55 by partnering with several

00:09:56 different companies

00:09:57 for different lunar landing missions.

00:09:59 We get to see all

00:10:00 their individual strengths,

00:10:01 their different technical approaches.

00:10:02 But at the same time,

00:10:04 we don't get the level of information

00:10:06 and we don't have the level

00:10:07 of control or direction

00:10:08 that we're used to having at NASA.

00:10:09 But we think that trade

00:10:10 is really worth it.

00:10:11 But why is it so important for us

00:10:13 to send science before we send astronauts?

00:10:15 We didn't do that before

00:10:16 with the Apollo program.

00:10:17 Well, it's been many decades since Apollo,

00:10:20 and there were many, many unanswered

00:10:22 scientific questions about the moon,

00:10:23 not just about the moon itself,

00:10:25 but how the moon is almost a time machine

00:10:27 to look back to see what happened at Earth

00:10:29 in the earliest stages of Earth.

00:10:30 So, for example, we can do studies

00:10:32 at the moon to try to determine

00:10:34 when did all those last

00:10:35 big meteor impacts take place?

00:10:37 Because if we see them in the moon,

00:10:38 they actually happened

00:10:39 at the same time at Earth,

00:10:40 maybe around the same time

00:10:41 life was forming at Earth.

00:10:43 You could also look at the moon

00:10:45 and we might be interested

00:10:46 in using water ice

00:10:47 that's at the South Pole,

00:10:48 the moon we expect for our astronauts

00:10:50 in the future.

00:10:51 But understanding how that ice got there,

00:10:53 how that water got there

00:10:54 in the first place

00:10:55 will help us understand

00:10:56 how do we have water at Earth

00:10:57 that we get to use today?

00:10:59 Real quick, is there anything in particular

00:11:01 that you are most excited

00:11:03 about discovering on the moon?

00:11:04 Oh, there's just so many things.

00:11:06 There have been scientific questions

00:11:08 for decades that we that people,

00:11:10 scientists, the United States

00:11:11 around the world have been dying

00:11:12 to get back to the surface,

00:11:13 the moon to do.

00:11:14 We've sent many probes in orbit

00:11:16 around the moon,

00:11:16 like Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,

00:11:18 but they look at it from afar.

00:11:20 This is going to be our first chance

00:11:21 to go back and really make

00:11:22 those measurements

00:11:23 that really touch the surface

00:11:24 and see what's really there.

00:11:25 Jill, thank you so much.

00:11:26 I know we have ambitious goals

00:11:27 here at NASA.

00:11:28 I can't wait to see what we will we do.

00:11:29 Oh, thank you.

00:11:30 This is an exciting day.

00:11:31 Yes. Thank you so much.

00:11:32 All right.

00:11:33 So let's head back over to ULA's

00:11:35 Amanda Sterling for another update

00:11:36 on the Vulcan rocket.

00:11:37 Things continue to go as planned

00:11:41 as we look forward to the launch

00:11:43 of ULA's first Vulcan rocket.

00:11:45 We're still holding at T-7

00:11:47 minutes as part of our planned

00:11:49 60 minute hold, and the team is not

00:11:51 working any issues at this time.

00:11:52 The Vulcan booster is fueled

00:11:55 to flight level with super chilled

00:11:57 liquid oxygen and liquid methane.

00:11:59 Soon, Centaur topping

00:12:01 to flight levels will begin,

00:12:02 and the ULA team is on track

00:12:04 for an on-time liftoff

00:12:06 at 2.18.38 a.m. Eastern.

00:12:08 We're about five minutes away

00:12:11 from Space Launch Delta 45's

00:12:13 final weather briefing.

00:12:14 At the moment, our weather

00:12:16 continues to look good

00:12:17 through the 45 minute launch window

00:12:19 we have available this morning.

00:12:21 The excitement is building here

00:12:23 in ULA's Advanced Space

00:12:25 Flight Operations Center

00:12:26 as we get closer to T-0.

00:12:27 Back to you, Megan.

00:12:28 All right.

00:12:30 We're about 35 minutes away

00:12:32 to the opening of today's launch window.

00:12:33 Inside Vulcan's payload fairing

00:12:35 is Astrobotic's Peregrine spacecraft.

00:12:37 Astrobotic is based in

00:12:39 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

00:12:40 where folks there are laser focused

00:12:42 on Peregrine right now.

00:12:43 Right, Olivia?

00:12:43 That is definitely right, Megan.

00:12:46 I'm checking in on our Peregrine

00:12:48 lunar lander with our mission

00:12:49 control team right now.

00:12:50 You can see them on screen.

00:12:52 A reminder that our spacecraft

00:12:54 is currently sitting in the top

00:12:55 of ULA Vulcan's fairing.

00:12:57 Our flight director is informing me

00:13:00 that Peregrine is looking nominal

00:13:01 with temperatures currently

00:13:02 at an expected 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:13:05 We also monitor

00:13:07 the environmental pressures

00:13:08 around the spacecraft,

00:13:09 and we're sitting at a good 14.7 PSI.

00:13:12 Things are looking good for launch.

00:13:14 The spacecraft is currently powered off,

00:13:17 but will automatically power on

00:13:19 once it separates

00:13:20 from Vulcan's payload fairing.

00:13:21 And here you can just see the faces

00:13:24 of some of the engineers

00:13:25 who have worked many hours on Peregrine

00:13:27 to get it to the launch pad today.

00:13:29 Standing, well, sitting,

00:13:30 sitting in the middle left row

00:13:32 is flight director Andrew Solorzano.

00:13:34 He is the acting flight

00:13:37 director for this launch

00:13:38 and nearby is Alex Van Hoven.

00:13:41 He is currently providing us updates

00:13:43 on the spacecraft status.

00:13:44 And Alex just informed me

00:13:46 that the spacecraft

00:13:47 is currently looking nominal.

00:13:49 Temperatures and pressures

00:13:50 are still as expected

00:13:51 as we continue to await launch.

00:13:53 Let's send it back

00:13:54 to Megan at the host desk.

00:13:55 Thank you, Olivia.

00:13:57 Again, Peregrine is flying

00:13:59 with 20 payloads today.

00:14:00 Five of those are NASA's.

00:14:02 And throughout the show,

00:14:03 we will tell you about each one,

00:14:04 starting first with the linear

00:14:06 energy transfer spectrometer,

00:14:08 or let's from NASA's

00:14:10 Johnson Space Center.

00:14:11 I'm Nick Stoffel.

00:14:14 I'm a physicist

00:14:16 and professional engineer,

00:14:17 science and operations

00:14:19 lead for the let's payload.

00:14:20 The linear energy transfer

00:14:23 spectrometer is a small,

00:14:24 low power radiation detector

00:14:25 based on time

00:14:26 fixed technology developed at CERN.

00:14:28 It's similar to devices

00:14:30 that we've flown on ISS and Artemis.

00:14:32 The science we're expecting

00:14:33 to get from the let's detector

00:14:35 is take that information

00:14:36 and translate it from

00:14:38 deposited energy in silicon,

00:14:40 which is what we measure

00:14:41 with this detector,

00:14:41 into a more biologically

00:14:43 equivalent value that we can utilize

00:14:46 for crew protection.

00:14:47 One of the key pieces,

00:14:49 I think that if we can capture

00:14:51 would be outstanding,

00:14:52 is getting data from a radiation event,

00:14:55 solar storm on the moon

00:14:57 while crew are not there.

00:14:59 That would be ideal

00:15:01 from the standpoint

00:15:02 of being able to get the data

00:15:03 without putting crew at risk

00:15:06 and then utilizing that data

00:15:07 to prepare for crew protection

00:15:09 during the lunar operations.

00:15:11 Now, NASA Science

00:15:13 Technology Mission Directorate

00:15:15 had a hand in today's launch.

00:15:16 So here with me now

00:15:17 is Nikki Werkheiser,

00:15:18 Director of Technology Maturation.

00:15:20 Good morning to you.

00:15:21 Good morning.

00:15:22 So tell me how STMD,

00:15:24 that's the shortened version

00:15:25 of the directorate there.

00:15:26 Tell me how it invests

00:15:27 in small business like astrobotics.

00:15:29 Of course.

00:15:30 So the Space Technology

00:15:31 Mission Directorate,

00:15:32 our mantra is technology

00:15:33 drives exploration.

00:15:35 So if you're really going to create

00:15:36 new disruptive technologies

00:15:38 that that that change the world,

00:15:40 you really have to work

00:15:41 with a diverse group of individuals.

00:15:43 And that means our small businesses,

00:15:44 large businesses,

00:15:45 international partners,

00:15:46 other government agencies.

00:15:47 Astrobotic is a shining

00:15:49 example of that.

00:15:50 STMD has been working with them

00:15:51 for well over a decade.

00:15:53 We've awarded over 40

00:15:56 small business

00:15:56 innovation research awards

00:15:58 and are tipping points

00:15:59 to develop new technologies

00:16:00 for the mission.

00:16:01 So is that essentially

00:16:02 like seed money?

00:16:03 Is that how to do it?

00:16:04 We're partners, right?

00:16:05 We're partners in this.

00:16:06 We say at Artemis,

00:16:07 we're going together and we mean it.

00:16:09 We're we're invested

00:16:10 hand in hand in this.

00:16:11 And how have those financial awards,

00:16:14 how have those helped astrobotic?

00:16:15 So, for example,

00:16:17 not only do we have science

00:16:19 and different payloads

00:16:21 aboard the mission,

00:16:22 but actually parts

00:16:23 of the lander itself,

00:16:25 like our navigation Doppler LIDAR

00:16:26 that helps with the guidance,

00:16:28 navigation and control

00:16:29 terrain relative navigation

00:16:31 that helps to make sure

00:16:32 that they can land in safe spots.

00:16:34 You know, the moon

00:16:34 can be very treacherous.

00:16:35 And also the axial thruster engines

00:16:38 on the lander itself

00:16:39 are brand new engines

00:16:40 that have never been flown before

00:16:42 that we're testing

00:16:42 on the moon together.

00:16:44 How does it feel to see technologies

00:16:46 that your director developed,

00:16:48 you know, helping us

00:16:48 get back to the moon?

00:16:49 There are not words.

00:16:50 I really get goosebumps.

00:16:52 And, you know, the funny thing is,

00:16:53 if you'd ask me as it was a child,

00:16:55 of course, it's the amazing

00:16:56 engineering and science feats

00:16:58 that we see happening.

00:16:59 But as a child that was raised

00:17:00 in a family of a small business,

00:17:02 doing this together

00:17:03 with small businesses,

00:17:04 this being our NASA

00:17:06 and going together to the moon

00:17:07 is really just incredible.

00:17:10 Yeah. Just what do you think about that?

00:17:12 Again, that we're bringing in as many

00:17:13 as we can with us back.

00:17:15 You know what I think?

00:17:16 I think that means success.

00:17:17 I think it's going to require all of us

00:17:19 and our mutual strengths

00:17:20 to make it happen.

00:17:21 Thank you, Nikki.

00:17:22 I really appreciate you being here

00:17:23 and I hope you see

00:17:23 a beautiful launch today.

00:17:24 Me too. Let's go.

00:17:26 All right. We're just about 30

00:17:28 under 31 minutes to the opening

00:17:30 of today's 45 minute launch window

00:17:32 after Peregrine One today.

00:17:34 Astrobotic will deliver

00:17:35 another payload for us,

00:17:36 and that's our Viper rover

00:17:38 later this year.

00:17:38 Right now, teams across NASA

00:17:48 are busy working on Viper,

00:17:49 another important lunar delivery.

00:17:52 Viper is short for Volatiles

00:17:55 Investigating Polar Exploration Rover.

00:17:58 But what are volatiles

00:18:00 and why is NASA looking for them?

00:18:01 Volatiles are substances

00:18:04 that easily evaporate.

00:18:05 And one of the most important

00:18:07 volatiles NASA is trying to map

00:18:09 on the moon is water.

00:18:11 Water is critical for deep space

00:18:14 exploration because you can drink it,

00:18:16 but also turn it into oxygen

00:18:19 for breathing and hydrogen for fuel.

00:18:22 NASA has selected Astrobotic

00:18:26 for Vipers lunar delivery under CLPS,

00:18:29 or the Commercial Lunar

00:18:30 Payload Services Initiative.

00:18:32 And when Viper gets to the moon,

00:18:34 it will search for ice on and under

00:18:37 the lunar surface

00:18:39 near the moon's South Pole.

00:18:40 About the size of a small car,

00:18:43 it has a drill

00:18:44 and three science instruments.

00:18:46 Together, they will work to uncover

00:18:48 how frozen water got on the moon

00:18:50 in the first place

00:18:51 and what has kept it preserved

00:18:53 over billions of years.

00:18:55 This mission will help

00:18:56 NASA understand the environment

00:18:58 where we plan to send astronauts

00:19:00 as part of its Artemis program,

00:19:02 which will establish

00:19:03 a long term presence on the moon

00:19:05 and eventually Mars.

00:19:07 That's your Artemis Moon Minute.

00:19:10 Our next Artemis mission is Artemis 2,

00:19:17 which will send four astronauts

00:19:18 around the moon,

00:19:19 and work is already well underway

00:19:21 on the ride.

00:19:22 NASA's Space Launch System rocket.

00:19:24 Right now, teams here at Kennedy

00:19:26 are processing segments

00:19:27 of the two side boosters.

00:19:28 Each booster will stand

00:19:30 about 17 stories tall

00:19:32 and burn approximately six tons

00:19:35 of propellant every second,

00:19:37 producing 3.6 million pounds of thrust.

00:19:40 We continue to march towards

00:19:43 today's 45 minute launch window

00:19:45 that opens at 2.18

00:19:46 and 38 seconds Eastern time.

00:19:48 The ULA team remains in a planned hold

00:19:51 and right now working no issues.

00:19:52 As for the Peregrine spacecraft,

00:19:54 let's get another check of it

00:19:55 from Olivia with Astrobotic.

00:19:57 Thank you, Megan.

00:20:00 As you may recall,

00:20:01 we are currently only monitoring

00:20:03 the spacecraft's

00:20:04 temperature and pressure

00:20:05 while it sits inside the Vulcan

00:20:06 rockets payload fairing.

00:20:07 And we're checking in with my team

00:20:09 members and Mission Control

00:20:11 and Alex Van Hoven,

00:20:12 one of our flight directors

00:20:13 in the very back row.

00:20:15 He is providing us updates directly.

00:20:17 Our mission team confirmed

00:20:19 the spacecraft's levels are nominal

00:20:21 and we continue to be ready for launch.

00:20:23 And I'd like to take this time

00:20:24 to say a well-deserved shout out

00:20:26 to the entire astrobotic team

00:20:28 in Pennsylvania, California,

00:20:30 and even a few remote workers.

00:20:31 I'm sure you're all watching right now.

00:20:33 And we thank you

00:20:34 for your continued commitment

00:20:36 to this mission

00:20:36 and to lunar exploration.

00:20:38 We really, really couldn't

00:20:39 have done it without you.

00:20:40 Now, as we sit tight for launch,

00:20:43 we'll continue to monitor Peregrine.

00:20:44 For now, back to Megan at the host desk.

00:20:47 A few minutes ago,

00:20:48 I told you about NASA's

00:20:50 Letts payload flying on Peregrine today.

00:20:52 Now we'll learn about Nervus

00:20:54 or the near infrared

00:20:55 volatile spectrometer system

00:20:57 from NASA's Ames Research Center.

00:20:59 Hi, my name is Tony Colaprete.

00:21:05 I'm the lead scientist

00:21:06 for the near infrared

00:21:07 volatile spectrometer system or Nervus.

00:21:09 The Nervus instrument combines

00:21:11 three observations

00:21:12 as a spectrometer

00:21:14 that tells us about the composition

00:21:17 of the lunar soil.

00:21:18 It has a high resolution camera

00:21:20 that tells us about the fine scale

00:21:22 structures of that soil.

00:21:24 And it has a temperature measurement

00:21:26 that tells us the temperature

00:21:27 of the lunar regolith.

00:21:28 Nervus combines all these

00:21:30 three measurements to help us

00:21:32 better understand the compounds

00:21:34 that are on the surface of the moon.

00:21:36 Particular compounds

00:21:37 we're interested in are volatiles.

00:21:39 A lunar volatile is a compound

00:21:42 that is very sensitive to temperature

00:21:44 at low temperatures.

00:21:45 It's solid at high temperatures.

00:21:47 It's a vapor.

00:21:48 Water is a good example

00:21:50 of a lunar volatile.

00:21:51 We believe water is manufactured

00:21:53 in sunlit regions of the moon,

00:21:55 either through solar wind

00:21:56 or through micrometeoroid impacts,

00:21:58 and then migrates

00:22:00 to the poles of the moon

00:22:01 where it's captured into dark,

00:22:02 permanently shadowed craters.

00:22:04 If there is water at the poles of the moon

00:22:06 in substantial quantities,

00:22:08 that might be of incredible importance

00:22:10 and use to human exploration

00:22:13 going forward.

00:22:13 Now, we still have three more NASA

00:22:17 payloads to tell you about

00:22:18 flying on NASA's first commercial

00:22:20 lunar payload services launch.

00:22:21 But now we want to turn the broadcast

00:22:23 over to ULA.

00:22:24 Amanda Sterling will walk us

00:22:26 through the rest of the Vulcan

00:22:27 rocket's inaugural flight

00:22:29 through launch and ascent.

00:22:30 And then Olivia and I will be back

00:22:32 around 15 minutes after liftoff

00:22:33 to continue monitoring Peregrine.

00:22:35 ULA will just will join us

00:22:37 in just a few seconds.

00:22:38 [ Silence ]

00:23:08 >> Good morning.

00:23:09 I'm Amanda Sterling,

00:23:10 a program management leader,

00:23:11 and your host for ULA's live coverage

00:23:14 of the inaugural Vulcan launch.

00:23:16 I'm joining you from ULA's Advanced

00:23:18 Spaceflight Operations Center

00:23:20 at Cape Canaveral Space Force

00:23:21 Station in Florida.

00:23:22 Thanks for staying up late

00:23:25 or getting up early with us

00:23:26 for today's exciting first launch,

00:23:28 Vulcan's Certification Flight 1,

00:23:31 or CERT 1.

00:23:32 This is the first of two

00:23:34 planned test flights

00:23:35 to support full-scale

00:23:37 certification of the Vulcan rocket

00:23:39 for U.S. government missions.

00:23:40 Onboard the Vulcan rocket today

00:23:44 is Astrobotic's Peregrine Commercial

00:23:46 Lunar Lander on a mission

00:23:48 to intercept the moon

00:23:49 and the Celestis Memorial Spaceflight

00:23:52 Payload Enterprise flying

00:23:54 to deep space

00:23:55 with the Centaur upper stage.

00:23:57 Liftoff is scheduled

00:24:00 for 2/18/38 a.m. Eastern,

00:24:02 and we have a 45-minute launch window

00:24:04 this morning.

00:24:06 In addition to watching our webcast,

00:24:08 you can also follow the live mission

00:24:09 progress at ULALaunch.com.

00:24:12 About 30 minutes ago,

00:24:16 the count entered a 60-minute

00:24:18 planned hold.

00:24:18 We have two planned holds

00:24:21 in our launch count,

00:24:21 which give our team additional time

00:24:23 to resolve any issues prior

00:24:25 to entering the terminal count.

00:24:26 At this time, the team

00:24:28 is not working any issues,

00:24:30 and we're proceeding

00:24:30 towards an on-time liftoff.

00:24:32 We're excited to partner with NASA

00:24:35 on today's live broadcast.

00:24:36 Together, we'll be continuing

00:24:38 our coverage through end of mission.

00:24:39 Building on more than 120 years

00:24:48 of combined Atlas

00:24:49 and Delta launch experience,

00:24:51 ULA's Vulcan rocket

00:24:53 introduces a balance

00:24:55 of new technologies

00:24:56 and innovative features

00:24:57 to ensure a reliable

00:24:59 and accessible space launch service.

00:25:01 Let's hear more about

00:25:03 this incredible launch vehicle

00:25:04 from ULA Business Development

00:25:06 Director Tom Burkholder

00:25:08 and Vulcan Chief Engineer

00:25:09 RJ Sansom.

00:25:10 So, RJ, can you discuss

00:25:14 a little bit of the,

00:25:15 when you began the design of Vulcan

00:25:17 and what that meant?

00:25:18 Yeah, when we started

00:25:19 the design of Vulcan,

00:25:20 we were looking at our

00:25:21 national security space customer

00:25:23 and designing a launch system

00:25:24 that would meet their needs.

00:25:25 And we focused on, you know,

00:25:27 to provide lift

00:25:29 for the most difficult

00:25:30 stressing mission,

00:25:31 which is a high-energy mission.

00:25:32 We designed a launch system

00:25:34 that's flexible.

00:25:35 We have the ability to add

00:25:37 solid rocket boosters,

00:25:39 take them off,

00:25:40 to tailor the performance

00:25:42 that we need for that particular

00:25:43 customer's mission.

00:25:44 We have an extremely capable

00:25:46 upper stage in the Centaur V

00:25:48 that provides performance

00:25:49 that exceeds all the capabilities

00:25:50 that our customer needs.

00:25:52 And in the end,

00:25:52 we've got a launch system

00:25:53 that exceeds all of our

00:25:55 national security customers'

00:25:57 requirements and enables us

00:25:59 to provide performance

00:26:00 for commercial customers

00:26:01 or other customers

00:26:02 that will meet their needs

00:26:04 now and into the future.

00:26:06 That's great.

00:26:07 And as we look at

00:26:09 how the customer received

00:26:10 that vision,

00:26:11 we definitely saw that

00:26:12 they were aligned with it

00:26:13 as they contributed

00:26:16 to the development

00:26:17 from the Space Force

00:26:19 to NASA and commercial customers.

00:26:21 And so I was wondering

00:26:22 if you could also talk

00:26:23 on the partnerships

00:26:24 that you had in the development.

00:26:26 Yeah, from the beginning,

00:26:27 we partnered with

00:26:29 industry partners

00:26:30 who have expertise

00:26:32 and capabilities

00:26:33 to help us bring new

00:26:34 innovative technologies

00:26:36 as well as to leverage

00:26:37 existing technologies.

00:26:38 So we brought a very capable

00:26:41 yet new design for

00:26:42 that was a low-risk option.

00:26:44 We partnered with Northrop Grumman

00:26:46 on development of new

00:26:47 solid rocket boosters.

00:26:48 The first variant of that

00:26:49 flew on Atlas

00:26:50 with a tailored version

00:26:52 that was tailored

00:26:54 to provide specific performance

00:26:55 for Vulcans.

00:26:56 We partnered with Rocketdyne

00:26:58 on development of RL-10

00:27:00 and implementation on that.

00:27:02 Again, first flight on Atlas

00:27:03 and then flying again on Vulcan.

00:27:06 Partnered with Beyond Gravity

00:27:07 on composite structures.

00:27:09 And then we partnered

00:27:10 with Blue Origin

00:27:11 to develop a new

00:27:12 main stage propulsion system,

00:27:13 the BE-4,

00:27:14 the first ox-rich stage

00:27:15 combustion engine

00:27:16 developed domestically.

00:27:18 So, you know, industry partners

00:27:19 brought a lot to the table for us.

00:27:20 That's great.

00:27:22 And then as we look at

00:27:23 what this has meant to the market,

00:27:24 it's been fantastic.

00:27:26 And I was wondering

00:27:27 if you could share with me

00:27:29 how the Vulcan design

00:27:30 has evolved as we've started

00:27:32 to look at the commercial market

00:27:33 with Project Kuiper.

00:27:34 We had a really capable launch system

00:27:36 to start with.

00:27:37 And as we looked

00:27:38 at the commercial market

00:27:39 and the focus on LEO,

00:27:41 we decided that a small change

00:27:43 to our design,

00:27:44 a small change to the upper stage,

00:27:46 would give us

00:27:48 increased performance

00:27:49 and ability to lift more spacecraft

00:27:51 to the low-Earth orbit

00:27:53 and really position us well

00:27:54 for supporting the Kuiper contract

00:27:57 and our Kuiper customer.

00:27:58 Yeah.

00:27:59 And the result of that

00:28:00 was the largest launch contract ever.

00:28:03 And so with that, Vulcan

00:28:04 has positioned ULA

00:28:07 to help support national security,

00:28:09 NASA, and our commercial market.

00:28:11 So we're very excited

00:28:12 about the future.

00:28:13 Go Vulcan.

00:28:14 Go Centaur.

00:28:15 Go CERT-1.

00:28:16 I'm now joined by ULA

00:28:21 president and CEO Tori Bruno.

00:28:24 Tori, thank you so much

00:28:25 for joining us

00:28:25 on this monumental day.

00:28:28 I've been a part of the Vulcan

00:28:29 team for a number of years,

00:28:31 so I know how focused

00:28:32 the whole ULA team has been.

00:28:34 Can you talk a little bit

00:28:35 about the teams that came together

00:28:37 to design, build,

00:28:39 and now launch this rocket?

00:28:41 I am so proud of our people,

00:28:43 and I think we had exactly

00:28:45 the best possible team.

00:28:47 We've got folks that designed

00:28:48 rockets before,

00:28:49 like Atlas and Delta,

00:28:51 but we also have the majority

00:28:52 of our team, people like yourself,

00:28:55 that are earlier in their career,

00:28:57 know the new tools,

00:28:58 aren't sort of handcuffed

00:29:00 by some of the conventions

00:29:01 that we used before,

00:29:03 and can do really creative

00:29:04 and innovative work

00:29:06 while also not making

00:29:07 the mistakes of the past.

00:29:09 Absolutely.

00:29:09 And, you know, Vulcan

00:29:10 is such a unique rocket.

00:29:12 What are you most proud of

00:29:13 about this vehicle?

00:29:15 I'm really proud of the fact

00:29:16 that we still service

00:29:18 the high-energy marketplace,

00:29:20 a unique thing that is really

00:29:22 important to our nation's security,

00:29:24 that no one else has

00:29:26 an architecture that will do that.

00:29:28 While at the same time,

00:29:29 breaking all the rules

00:29:30 and having the dial-a-rocket

00:29:31 architecture that gives it

00:29:33 the flexibility to reach down

00:29:35 into that LEO marketplace

00:29:36 and be very competitive

00:29:38 there as well.

00:29:39 Absolutely.

00:29:40 So we're getting pretty close

00:29:41 to liftoff now.

00:29:43 How do you expect to feel

00:29:44 watching the Vulcan rocket

00:29:45 liftoff for the first time?

00:29:47 Tremendous excitement

00:29:48 and anticipation.

00:29:50 I got to tell you,

00:29:50 I've done over 400 launches.

00:29:52 They're all the same.

00:29:54 I always get butterflies.

00:29:56 This one's really special

00:29:58 because of what it means

00:29:59 to our country,

00:30:00 to our customers,

00:30:01 and to the team

00:30:02 that has worked so hard,

00:30:03 including you,

00:30:04 Agent Sterling.

00:30:07 Well, thank you so much

00:30:07 for joining us.

00:30:08 We'll let you get back to it

00:30:09 so you can make sure

00:30:10 you watch liftoff.

00:30:13 Let's go.

00:30:14 Go Vulcan.

00:30:16 Thank you.

00:30:17 [silence]

00:30:45 On board the Vulcan rocket today

00:30:46 is Astrobotic's Peregrine

00:30:48 commercial lunar lander.

00:30:50 Peregrine is the first spacecraft

00:30:52 in NASA's new Eclipse initiative

00:30:54 to have American companies

00:30:56 send its science experiments

00:30:57 to the moon.

00:31:00 Astrobotic is a full-service

00:31:01 lunar company.

00:31:03 It starts with our terrestrial

00:31:04 testing and development services

00:31:06 that can build and test

00:31:07 propulsion systems on Earth

00:31:08 to the sensors that make

00:31:10 precision landing possible

00:31:11 to our rovers that will deploy

00:31:13 down on the surface of the moon.

00:31:14 The big thing that we're known for

00:31:16 is our two lunar missions

00:31:17 to go to the surface of the moon.

00:31:18 Our first one is about to launch

00:31:20 and our second one flies in 2024.

00:31:24 Peregrine mission is important

00:31:25 because it's among the first

00:31:27 commercial missions to return

00:31:28 to the surface of the moon.

00:31:29 This is the dawn of a new era

00:31:31 of affordable, routine,

00:31:33 regular access to the surface.

00:31:35 Peregrine's development

00:31:36 was a years-long process

00:31:38 that included many people

00:31:39 like engineers, welders,

00:31:41 and technicians who designed

00:31:42 and built the spacecraft.

00:31:44 To be on the pad today

00:31:45 with our spacecraft strapped

00:31:47 to a giant 200-foot-tall

00:31:49 launch vehicle, it's a little surreal.

00:31:51 It's a moment I've been dreaming about.

00:31:53 And this first mission

00:31:54 is just our first step

00:31:55 to make space accessible

00:31:57 to the world, and it certainly

00:31:58 will not be our last.

00:31:59 Line item 9-1-1 has been disabled.

00:32:12 Roger.

00:32:14 Also riding atop today's

00:32:16 Vulcan rocket is the

00:32:17 Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload.

00:32:20 Let's learn more about this mission.

00:32:22 Celestis's Enterprise flight

00:32:26 carries capsules

00:32:27 containing cremated remains,

00:32:29 DNA samples, and greetings

00:32:31 from Celestis's clients worldwide.

00:32:33 The capsules are integrated

00:32:35 into two carriers

00:32:36 that are mounted

00:32:37 to the forward adapter

00:32:38 on ULA's Centaur upper stage.

00:32:40 The carriers will remain affixed

00:32:42 to ULA's Centaur as it travels

00:32:44 into a heliocentric orbit

00:32:46 around the sun,

00:32:47 or it will remain for eternity.

00:32:49 The Enterprise flight

00:32:51 is Celestis's first

00:32:52 deep space mission.

00:32:54 Flight control, LC.

00:33:09 Go ahead, this is flight control.

00:33:11 Reduce Vulcan hydraulics to standby.

00:33:13 Roger.

00:33:14 Today's rocket includes

00:33:23 the American flag

00:33:24 across the interstage,

00:33:26 as well as logos

00:33:27 on the payload fairing

00:33:28 representing ULA, Vulcan,

00:33:30 and Astrobotic.

00:33:32 While this is the inaugural launch

00:33:34 of the Vulcan rocket,

00:33:35 the CERT-1 flight test

00:33:37 marks ULA's 159th launch.

00:33:40 Let's learn more

00:33:41 about this innovative new rocket.

00:33:43 Designed by ULA's engineering team

00:33:48 and built by our skilled technicians,

00:33:50 the Vulcan rocket,

00:33:51 once fully stacked,

00:33:52 stands 202 feet

00:33:54 and weighs nearly 1.5 million pounds

00:33:56 fully fueled.

00:33:58 Vulcan's first stage

00:33:59 is built using lightweight,

00:34:00 machined, and bump-pressed

00:34:02 ortho-grid aluminum panels

00:34:03 to form the liquid propellant tanks.

00:34:06 Once formed,

00:34:07 tanks are joined together

00:34:08 using circumferential friction stir welding

00:34:11 before heading to the paint booth.

00:34:13 Prior to mating to the booster,

00:34:15 the BE-4 engines

00:34:16 are individually hot-fired.

00:34:18 At the base of the rocket

00:34:22 is the Vulcan booster,

00:34:23 powered by twin BE-4 engines.

00:34:25 For additional thrust at liftoff,

00:34:27 solid rocket boosters, or SRBs,

00:34:30 are attached to the rocket.

00:34:32 Atop the booster

00:34:33 is ULA's ultra-thin

00:34:35 stainless steel Centaur upper stage,

00:34:37 powered by two RL-10C engines.

00:34:40 Spacecraft are encapsulated

00:34:41 inside a protected

00:34:42 5.4-meter diameter payload fairing.

00:34:45 With production complete,

00:34:47 the rocket travels

00:34:48 from the ULA factory in Alabama

00:34:50 to the launch site in Cape Canaveral

00:34:52 on ULA's rocket ship.

00:34:54 Once in Florida,

00:34:55 ULA's launch operations team

00:34:57 begins a series of events,

00:34:59 leading to today's countdown.

00:35:01 The process begins

00:35:02 by lifting the 109-foot booster

00:35:05 onto the newly constructed

00:35:06 Vulcan Launch Platform, or VLP.

00:35:10 For missions requiring

00:35:11 additional thrust at liftoff,

00:35:13 SRBs are attached

00:35:14 to the side of the booster.

00:35:16 Then, following interstage mate,

00:35:18 the Centaur upper stage

00:35:19 is transported to the VIF

00:35:21 and lifted into position.

00:35:23 Lastly,

00:35:24 the encapsulated payload fairing

00:35:26 is lifted and mated

00:35:27 to the Vulcan rocket.

00:35:29 Once fully assembled,

00:35:30 the launch countdown begins

00:35:31 with moving the rocket

00:35:32 from the VIF to the pad,

00:35:34 riding atop the VLP,

00:35:35 Vulcan's trip to the pad

00:35:37 is about one-third of a mile.

00:35:39 Weighing in at approximately

00:35:41 2 million pounds,

00:35:42 the VLP supports the rocket

00:35:44 and contains air conditioning,

00:35:45 electrical, and commodities lines.

00:35:48 Throughout the 20-minute trip,

00:35:50 a support van leads the move,

00:35:52 followed by the payload van,

00:35:53 providing communication

00:35:54 with the spacecraft,

00:35:56 while the ground van

00:35:57 provides support to the rocket.

00:36:00 Trackmobiles at the rear

00:36:01 power the nearly 3 million pound convoy,

00:36:04 which also includes

00:36:05 an environmental control system,

00:36:07 providing air conditioning

00:36:08 to the payload and rocket,

00:36:09 as well as a backup generator.

00:36:11 With the rocket on the pad,

00:36:13 the launch team transitions

00:36:14 to fueling and other final preparations.

00:36:17 Launch.

00:36:23 Maintain operational silence

00:36:24 in the LCC.

00:36:25 Go, Lock 2.

00:36:27 Centaur LO2 at flight level.

00:36:29 Roger.

00:36:32 Terminal count briefing.

00:36:33 If the condition exceeds

00:36:34 the launch constraint,

00:36:35 any time after the terminal

00:36:36 count status check,

00:36:37 the observer shall announce

00:36:38 "Hold, hold, hold" on channel 1,

00:36:39 identify their station,

00:36:40 and briefly state the reason

00:36:41 for the hold.

00:36:44 RLM, verify red line monitor

00:36:45 and event table

00:36:46 and the correct configuration

00:36:47 for terminal count.

00:36:49 Verified.

00:36:53 As we approach the terminal

00:36:54 count pole,

00:36:55 let's check in on today's weather.

00:36:57 The space launch,

00:36:58 Delta 45 forecast,

00:36:59 for this morning's launch,

00:37:01 is looking good.

00:37:02 The probability of violating

00:37:03 launch constraints is 15%.

00:37:06 Ground winds are 15 to 20 knots

00:37:08 out of the north,

00:37:09 and the temperature is

00:37:10 57 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:37:12 The primary concern for launch

00:37:14 is the thick cloud layers rule.

00:37:20 L minus 11 minutes.

00:37:23 [silence]

00:37:41 We remain in the planned

00:37:42 60-minute hold

00:37:43 as we continue towards liftoff.

00:37:45 In a few moments,

00:37:46 launch conductor Dylan Rice

00:37:48 will poll the launch team

00:37:49 for the final go

00:37:50 to pick up the count.

00:37:52 29 engineers and managers

00:37:54 are polled for system status

00:37:56 and readiness to proceed.

00:37:58 This is the final status check

00:37:59 for all Vulcan vehicle systems,

00:38:02 ground systems, spacecraft,

00:38:04 and the U.S. Space Force

00:38:05 Eastern Range.

00:38:07 The vehicle system readiness poll

00:38:09 includes electrical systems,

00:38:11 hydraulics, pneumatics,

00:38:13 propulsion systems,

00:38:14 flight control, and propellants.

00:38:17 Let's listen in as Dylan Rice

00:38:18 performs the final polling.

00:38:20 Status check.

00:38:22 L minus 10 minutes.

00:38:24 Status check to proceed

00:38:25 with terminal count.

00:38:26 Vulcan systems, propulsion.

00:38:27 Go.

00:38:28 Hydraulics.

00:38:29 Go.

00:38:30 Pneumatics.

00:38:31 Go.

00:38:32 LNG.

00:38:33 Go.

00:38:34 LO2.

00:38:35 Go.

00:38:36 Water.

00:38:37 Go.

00:38:38 Centaur systems, propulsion.

00:38:39 Go.

00:38:40 Pneumatics.

00:38:41 Go.

00:38:42 LO2.

00:38:43 Go.

00:38:44 LH2.

00:38:45 Go.

00:38:46 Haz gas.

00:38:47 Go.

00:38:48 Facility.

00:38:49 Go.

00:38:50 RFFDS.

00:38:51 Go.

00:38:52 Flight control.

00:38:53 Go.

00:38:54 GC-3.

00:38:55 Go.

00:38:56 Operations support.

00:38:57 Go.

00:38:58 Comm.

00:38:59 Go.

00:39:00 Umbilicals.

00:39:01 Go.

00:39:02 ECS.

00:39:03 Go.

00:39:04 Red line monitor.

00:39:05 Go.

00:39:06 Quality.

00:39:07 Go.

00:39:08 Ops safety manager.

00:39:09 Go.

00:39:10 ULA safety officer.

00:39:11 Go.

00:39:12 Vehicle system engineer.

00:39:13 Go.

00:39:14 Anomaly chief.

00:39:15 Go.

00:39:16 You have permission to launch.

00:39:18 Proceeding with the count.

00:39:20 ALC, verify T-0 is set for 071838Z.

00:39:28 Verified.

00:39:33 Polling is complete and the team is go for launch.

00:39:36 From T-7 minutes until liftoff, you'll hear Dylan Rice and the team performing the final steps in the countdown procedure.

00:39:43 Several critical activities occur in the final minutes before launch, including verifying fuel tank levels and pressures in the booster and Centaur and arming the flight termination system.

00:39:54 At T-1 minute, the range operations commander confirms the range is in a green condition for launch.

00:40:01 At T-25 seconds, you'll hear go Vulcan, go Centaur, go Peregrine.

00:40:07 This is the final status check of rocket and payload readiness.

00:40:12 At T-7 seconds, ROFI sparklers will ignite, followed a second later by initiation of the launch pad water deluge system.

00:40:22 At T-3 seconds, the main engines ignite.

00:40:26 Then, after seeing Vulcan's first ever liftoff from SLC-41, you'll begin hearing flight commentator Rob Gannon providing launch vehicle ascent data.

00:40:55 This is Vulcan mission control at T-7 minutes and holding.

00:41:05 We anticipate releasing the hold in just a few moments.

00:41:13 On my mark, the time will be T-7 minutes and counting.

00:41:19 3, 2, 1, mark.

00:41:27 655.

00:41:29 Ground pyros enabled.

00:41:30 The countdown clock has resumed and we are go for launch at 2-18-38 a.m. Eastern.

00:41:46 After liftoff, ULA's Vulcan rocket will head east from Space Launch Complex 41.

00:41:52 Here's a look at today's ascent.

00:41:59 Following final confirmation of rocket and payload readiness,

00:42:02 two Gem 63XL solid rocket boosters and twin BE-4 engines produce more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust

00:42:10 to lift ULA's Vulcan rocket away from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41.

00:42:16 Shortly after liftoff, the rocket begins a pitch over to attain the proper flight path

00:42:21 while minimizing the dynamic pressure it experiences during flight.

00:42:26 Vulcan then reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound.

00:42:29 With the ability to add two, four, or six solid rocket boosters, or SRBs,

00:42:36 Vulcan can be precisely configured to take any mission to space, from low Earth orbit to Pluto and beyond.

00:42:44 These boosters augment the rocket's total thrust at liftoff, adding approximately 460,000 pounds of thrust per SRB.

00:42:53 With their propellant expired approximately 90 seconds into ascent, the SRBs burn out, followed by jettison.

00:43:00 Jettison time is variable, occurring between 100 and 150 seconds after liftoff, depending on mission requirements.

00:43:07 Vulcan's guidance system then activates to steer towards the precise target in space.

00:43:13 First stage flight continues as the rocket crosses the Kármán line, entering space.

00:43:18 With the majority of propellant expended as Vulcan fights against the force of gravity,

00:43:22 the BE-4 engines shut down, and the booster stage separates.

00:43:27 With the rocket now weighing less than 10% of what it did at liftoff,

00:43:31 dual RL-10C engines on ULA's Centaur upper stage ignite.

00:43:37 Spacecraft are encapsulated inside a 5.4-meter diameter payload fairing,

00:43:42 which provides a protective environment during ascent.

00:43:45 Following Centaur engine ignition, the payload fairing is jettisoned.

00:43:49 With the first burn complete, the Centaur engine shuts down for a coast phase.

00:43:54 Centaur flies a short, medium, or long coast, which is determined by launch day.

00:44:00 Further into flight, Centaur ignites for a second burn,

00:44:03 powering the vehicle into a translunar injection orbit.

00:44:07 Following the second main engine cutoff, ULA's Centaur places Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander

00:44:13 into a highly elliptical orbit, more than 220,000 miles above Earth, where it will intercept the Moon.

00:44:21 Following delivery of the Peregrine spacecraft, Centaur comes alive for a third and final burn

00:44:27 to reach a heliocentric orbit around the Sun.

00:44:30 Centaur completes the SIRT-1 mission by carrying Celestis's Memorial spaceflight payload into deep space.

00:44:37 Known as the Enterprise flight, this mission includes 234 flight capsules containing cremated remains,

00:44:44 DNA samples, and messages of greetings from clients worldwide on an endless journey in interplanetary space

00:44:51 beyond the Earth-Moon system to orbit the Sun forever.

00:44:58 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

00:45:04 [ Silence ]

00:45:32 >> 249.

00:45:34 >> FTS internal.

00:45:36 [ Silence ]

00:45:43 >> 238.

00:45:45 [ Silence ]

00:45:51 >> 230.

00:45:53 >> CLO2 DLP started.

00:45:55 [ Silence ]

00:46:22 >> 159.

00:46:24 >> Vehicle internal.

00:46:26 >> T-2 minutes.

00:46:28 The launch vehicle, payload, ground systems, and eastern range are go for launch.

00:46:33 For those of you just joining, I'm Amanda Sterling, and I'm your host for today's live coverage

00:46:39 of the inaugural Vulcan rocket launch.

00:46:42 The team is not working any issues, and we're on track for an on-time lift-off at 2-18-38 a.m.

00:46:48 Eastern time.

00:46:50 >> FCS armed.

00:46:54 [ Silence ]

00:47:02 >> 120.

00:47:04 [ Silence ]

00:47:06 >> FCS count started.

00:47:08 [ Silence ]

00:47:22 >> One minute.

00:47:23 >> Two minus one minute.

00:47:24 >> Range status.

00:47:25 >> Range green.

00:47:27 [ Silence ]

00:47:37 >> 45.

00:47:38 >> Vulcan tanks at step three.

00:47:40 [ Silence ]

00:47:52 >> 30.

00:47:53 >> V4 start box, go.

00:47:55 [ Silence ]

00:48:00 >> Status check.

00:48:02 >> Go Vulcan.

00:48:03 >> Go Centaur.

00:48:04 >> Go Peregrine.

00:48:06 >> 15.

00:48:08 [ Silence ]

00:48:12 >> Ten.

00:48:13 >> T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, we have ignition.

00:48:22 [ Sound effects ]

00:48:26 >> And lift-off of the first United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket,

00:48:31 launching a new era in spaceflight to the moon and beyond.

00:48:36 [ Sound effects ]

00:48:40 >> Two good SRBs hitting peak pressure on the SRBs.

00:48:44 Everything looking good.

00:48:46 [ Sound effects ]

00:48:55 >> And we've got pitching out programs in, coming into normal rates for that event.

00:49:03 We have good hydraulic pressure on both engines.

00:49:07 Good chamber pressure on both engines.

00:49:08 Everything looking good.

00:49:10 [ Sound effects ]

00:49:18 >> Coming up on 60 seconds into the flight, everything looking good.

00:49:22 Good engines, two good SRBs.

00:49:27 Body rates look good, nice and smooth.

00:49:32 And we've hit our first throttle point on the BE-4s.

00:49:34 Everything looking good.

00:49:36 And we have passed through Mach 1.

00:49:38 We are now supersonic, coming up on max Q.

00:49:42 We've got max dynamic pressure.

00:49:44 Everything looking good.

00:49:45 We're rolling off on the SRBs.

00:49:49 And we have cutoff on the SRBs, coming up on jettison in approximately 30 seconds.

00:49:55 [ Sound effects ]

00:50:01 >> 15 seconds to SRB jet.

00:50:02 BE-4s continue to operate nominally.

00:50:08 Seeing expected DU activity and the boost remains.

00:50:13 And we have separation of both SRBs.

00:50:17 Everything looking good.

00:50:18 BE-4s continue to operate normally.

00:50:21 Coming up on two minutes into the mission.

00:50:24 We are now 17 miles in altitude.

00:50:26 >> We just heard confirmation of solid rocket booster jettison.

00:50:30 We have about three minutes until we reach our next mission event, booster engine cutoff.

00:50:37 >> And we see booster PU correcting towards a nominal MR.

00:50:40 Everything looking good.

00:50:43 Both engines continue to burn normally.

00:50:52 And we now weigh approximately half of our lift-off weight.

00:50:55 Everything looking good.

00:50:59 And we fire the power valve, activating the reaction control system.

00:51:04 On the upper stage, pressures are rising.

00:51:09 And as expected, BE-4 continues to operate normally.

00:51:23 Vehicles continue to fly down the center of the range track.

00:51:26 Everything looking good.

00:51:29 33 miles in altitude, 52 miles downrange, traveling at 4,000 miles per hour.

00:51:41 We see excellent performance out of the BE-4s.

00:51:44 Chamber pressure nice and smooth.

00:51:57 Vehicle steadily accelerating, a little over 2 Gs at this time.

00:52:01 Good body rates.

00:52:04 Nice and smooth operation of the booster.

00:52:08 47 miles in altitude, 95 miles downrange at 5,500 miles per hour.

00:52:18 Engines continue to burn normally.

00:52:20 Everything looking good.

00:52:32 And the vehicle now weighs one-quarter of its lift-off weight as we pass through the common line.

00:52:40 Next mark we're looking for is boost phase chill done on the center main engines.

00:52:52 Booster mains continue to operate normally.

00:53:01 And we've been on boost phase chill. Housing temps are dropping as expected.

00:53:12 Coming up to the end of boost phase, approximately 10 seconds to BECO.

00:53:17 Throttle down in preparation for BECO. We've completed boost phase chill down.

00:53:22 And we have cutoff.

00:53:24 Coming up on Vulcan center separation.

00:53:30 We have Vulcan center separation.

00:53:33 Everything looking good.

00:53:34 Coming up on the Centaur phase.

00:53:42 And experiencing a bit of data loss here.

00:53:45 We've recovered the data.

00:53:48 Centaur engines are up and running normally.

00:53:50 Good steady state pressure.

00:53:51 And we've just jettisoned the payload fairing.

00:54:06 Good steady state operating levels on the Centaur mains.

00:54:09 Two good engines.

00:54:10 On to open loop control on Centaur PU.

00:54:17 This is Vulcan mission control at T plus 5 minutes 57 seconds.

00:54:22 We just heard flight commentator Rob Gannon confirm the successful completion of the early phase of today's flight.

00:54:28 And all systems continue to operate nominally.

00:54:31 Our next event, main engine cutoff, will occur in about 10 minutes.

00:54:36 While we wait, I'm joined by Amanda Bichetti, ULA director of vehicle upgrades.

00:54:41 Amanda, thank you so much for joining us.

00:54:43 And I know it's still early, but congratulations.

00:54:46 Thank you.

00:54:47 You as well.

00:54:48 This is amazing.

00:54:49 How did it feel to watch the Vulcan rocket lift off for the first time?

00:54:52 Oh, just absolutely amazing.

00:54:54 I didn't expect it to be the way it was.

00:54:56 It just -- my heart is still pounding.

00:54:58 It was excellent.

00:54:59 And just I'm so proud of all the work that the team did to get where we are today.

00:55:02 Absolutely.

00:55:03 And developing a new rocket is an enormous endeavor of which you were a huge part.

00:55:08 Again, we're still early, but how do you imagine the whole Vulcan team is feeling right now?

00:55:12 I feel like they have to be the same way.

00:55:14 You know, smile, ear to ear.

00:55:16 I know the team is at all our sites, friends and family.

00:55:19 They've been supporting us for many years to get to where we are.

00:55:22 So I'm sure they are jumping up and down just like me.

00:55:24 It's been amazing.

00:55:26 How is the Vulcan rocket going to change the industry?

00:55:29 Yeah, that's a great question.

00:55:30 So Vulcan is very much based on our heritage rockets, the Delta IV and Atlas V vehicles.

00:55:34 But we've brought in a lot of new innovation and capabilities

00:55:37 that are going to allow us to even better support our warfighters,

00:55:41 exploration, as well as connecting the world.

00:55:43 And the great thing about Vulcan is it's highly versatile,

00:55:46 meaning we can use that vehicle to do anything we want,

00:55:49 allows for affordability for anybody who needs access to space.

00:55:53 Absolutely.

00:55:54 And so this is the first certification flight.

00:55:57 What are the next steps for Vulcan after this?

00:55:59 Yeah, so with the first flight, we are well under the way from a certification perspective.

00:56:04 We do have a second flight that we'll need to do here later this year.

00:56:07 Once that's completed, we'll have about two months or so of post-flight data testing.

00:56:12 And then at that point, we will be certified by the U.S. Space Force,

00:56:16 and we will be ready to fly all of their important payloads for them.

00:56:19 Awesome.

00:56:20 Well, again, thank you so much for joining us,

00:56:21 and we'll let you get back and watch the next mission.

00:56:23 Excellent.

00:56:24 Congratulations again.

00:56:25 Thanks, Ethan.

00:56:37 Coming up on 500 seconds into the mission.

00:56:39 Everything is looking good.

00:56:42 Continuing to burn Centaur.

00:56:48 Body rates look right as expected.

00:56:51 Steady acceleration, just under half a G.

00:56:54 And we are now 235 miles in altitude, 836 miles downrange, traveling at 11,150 miles per hour.

00:57:15 Continuously nominal performance from Centaur.

00:57:42 Approaching the halfway point of this first burn of Centaur.

00:57:45 Everything looks good.

00:57:56 We're now 1,000 miles downrange, traveling at 11,500 miles per hour.

00:58:24 This is Vulcan mission control at T plus 10 minutes, 7 seconds.

00:58:31 Our next event, main engine cutoff, will occur in about five minutes.

00:58:35 While we wait, I'm joined by Eric Monda, part of ULA's mission design team.

00:58:40 Eric, thanks for joining us.

00:58:41 Hi, Amanda.

00:58:42 Thank you for having me.

00:58:43 Of course.

00:58:44 So we're still pretty early in this flight today,

00:58:45 but can you tell us how the data is looking so far?

00:58:47 Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:48 So I just want to say that it was so exciting.

00:58:50 I ran outside so I could watch this thing lift off,

00:58:52 and that was so cool after so many years of development to watch this thing fly.

00:58:56 That was fantastic.

00:58:57 Absolutely, I bet.

00:58:58 Yeah.

00:58:59 So what is the data showing us so far?

00:59:01 Yeah, absolutely.

00:59:02 So I've had a very quick look.

00:59:03 Obviously we're very early in the flight still,

00:59:05 but I've taken a look at the SRB performance as well as the booster performance so far,

00:59:09 and everything looks just spot on, just perfect.

00:59:12 Fortunately, we've had a lot of these systems on Atlas and Delta for a long time,

00:59:17 and so we have a lot of flight data to anchor our models,

00:59:20 and everything is lining up just like we would expect.

00:59:23 Awesome.

00:59:24 So a lot of the audience has seen us switch from this live view of the launch from our rocket cam

00:59:29 to this animated representation of the vehicle in space.

00:59:33 Can you talk a little bit about why we make that switch and how this visual is populated?

00:59:37 Yeah, absolutely.

00:59:39 So when we first lift off, we have a feed directly from the cameras that are on the rocket back to the launch site here.

00:59:47 And so with that, we can get the video feed that we need in order to find those images.

00:59:52 As we get further downrange and we go over the horizon, we no longer have that direct link,

00:59:57 and so we rely on NASA's TDRS system to send telemetry from the vehicle back down to us on the ground.

01:00:03 In that telemetry data, we get information like position and attitude and velocity,

01:00:07 and so we use that to drive the animations you see here.

01:00:10 Okay, so we're looking at real data, what's happening, it's just a graphic of it instead of the real thing.

01:00:15 That's exactly right, yes.

01:00:16 Awesome, that's really cool.

01:00:17 So, you know, today we have--right now we're in the first of three Centaur burns.

01:00:21 Can you talk a little bit about why we need three burns

01:00:24 and how we use those three burns to complete our mission today?

01:00:28 Yeah, absolutely.

01:00:29 So the first burn forms our injection into low-Earth orbit.

01:00:33 Unfortunately, if we just continue that burn from that point in time,

01:00:36 we wouldn't necessarily be aligned with where we need to be in order to get to the moon.

01:00:40 So what we do after we get to low-Earth orbit is we shut those engines down,

01:00:43 we coast around until we get to the right spot to do that, and then we light those engines up again.

01:00:48 When we do that and complete that burn, that will allow us to send the astrobotic Paragon lander onto the moon.

01:00:57 So we shut those engines down again when we are ready to do that,

01:01:01 and then start them up one more time in order to do the third burn,

01:01:05 and that's what's going to take Sollustis' Enterprise mission out to deep space.

01:01:09 So let's talk a little bit about where these things happen.

01:01:12 We're going to go ahead and shut down the main engines on the Centaur

01:01:17 when we get about halfway across the Atlantic Ocean,

01:01:20 and then we're going to coast the rest of the way across the Atlantic Ocean, across Africa,

01:01:24 and go ahead and start the engines up again when we get to Madagascar,

01:01:28 and that's where we'll do the second burn, and then we coast again until we get about to Papua New Guinea.

01:01:34 And when we get to about over Papua New Guinea, that's where we'll go ahead and do that third and final burn.

01:01:39 Okay, so you mentioned a couple of these key milestones that are ahead of us.

01:01:43 What can everyone expect to see as far as the timeline of these mission events as they continue watching today?

01:01:48 Yeah, absolutely. So looking at the clock right now, it looks like we've got about two minutes,

01:01:53 a little over two minutes left here in the first burn of the upper stage.

01:01:57 We're going to coast for about 30 minutes after that as we do that coast across the Atlantic Ocean and across Africa.

01:02:04 The second burn will be about four minutes long,

01:02:06 and then we'll have another coast for 30 minutes before we have a pretty short, like 20-second burn for the final burn.

01:02:12 Once we've done that, then we've got some engineering demos we're going to do before we finally safe the stage

01:02:18 and shut everything off, and then about four days later is when the Centaur will leave the Earth-Moon system

01:02:26 and be on its way to deep space.

01:02:28 Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing that with us, and thanks for joining us today,

01:02:32 and we'll let you get back to watching those next events.

01:02:34 Absolutely. Thanks so much, Amanda.

01:02:36 Thanks.

01:02:38 [Pause for responses]

01:02:46 The P.U. system is steadily making the correction down to a nominal MR.

01:03:13 One minute, Tomiko.

01:03:18 Those engines firing normally.

01:03:47 [Pause for responses]

01:03:52 This is Vulcan Mission Control at T-plus 15 minutes, 30 seconds.

01:03:57 We are approaching the first main engine cutoff. Let's listen in.

01:04:00 Coming up on MECO 1.

01:04:19 We've gone to open loop control on MECO 1. We have cutoff.

01:04:21 Both engines show normal shutdown signatures.

01:04:24 We have settling established. 85 percent duty cycle.

01:04:30 We are now in a 27 minute, 51 second coast duration to second burn of Centaur.

01:04:39 This is Vulcan Mission Control at T-plus 16 minutes, 20 seconds.

01:04:44 We just heard flight commentator Rob Gannon confirm successful cutoff of the first main engine,

01:04:49 and all systems continue to operate nominally.

01:04:52 Our next event, main engine start two, will occur in about 27 minutes.

01:04:57 At this time, we'll pass the broadcast back to the NASA team to continue with mission coverage through the coast phase.

01:05:03 We'll join you back in as we approach the separation of the Peregrine spacecraft.

01:05:07 Over to you, Megan.

01:05:09 Thank you, Amanda. Congratulations to you and the ULA team so far.

01:05:12 If you're just joining us, welcome to the space coast of Florida,

01:05:15 where we just witnessed the first launch of NASA's CLPS initiative.

01:05:19 It was a magnificent sight, leaving me speechless apparently,

01:05:24 just really lighting up the night sky and loud enough to set off a couple of car alarms nearby.

01:05:29 CLPS is short for Commercial Lunar Payload Services.

01:05:32 It's a new model in which NASA contracts space on commercial missions

01:05:36 to send science experiments to the moon ahead of us landing astronauts there.

01:05:40 For today's launch, NASA selected Astrobotic to deliver its five lunar instruments.

01:05:45 This is the first mission for its Peregrine spacecraft.

01:05:48 Today was also the first launch of ULA's new Vulcan rocket.

01:05:51 Again, congrats.

01:05:53 It lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Pad 41.

01:05:56 Our broadcast here on NASA TV will continue through Peregrine acquisition of signal,

01:06:01 which is expected to happen at the earliest around 317 a.m. Eastern time.

01:06:07 With me now is Sandra Connolly.

01:06:09 She's the deputy associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

01:06:13 Good morning, and thanks for being here, Sandra.

01:06:15 Good morning. It's a thrill to be here.

01:06:17 What did you think of the launch?

01:06:19 It was amazing, yet another beautiful ULA launch.

01:06:23 Totally spectacular, and it's super exciting to know that now our Peregrine 1 lander

01:06:29 is on its way to the moon, and in about two and a half weeks it's going to go into orbit.

01:06:35 And a few weeks later from that, in mid to late February, we're going to actually see it land.

01:06:41 And that will be the first--well, actually it will be one of the early landings on the moon

01:06:48 since Apollo over 50 years, which is pretty amazing when you think about it, U.S. landings on the moon.

01:06:54 Yeah, it is. And Eclipse is new as well.

01:06:56 So talk to us a little bit about this program.

01:06:58 We're using commercial companies to send science instruments to the moon for us.

01:07:02 Why is that?

01:07:03 Yeah, you know, I'm really excited about this program.

01:07:05 It is a game-changing program for us.

01:07:08 It really is leveraging industry in new ways.

01:07:11 As you've probably seen, I mean, the whole aerospace industry has evolved over this last decade

01:07:17 in amazing ways, and I think this is just yet one more step in doing so.

01:07:21 So our commercial partners are actually delivering a service.

01:07:27 They're delivering our payloads and other organizational payloads,

01:07:31 whether it's other companies, whether it's international partners.

01:07:34 Basically, anybody who wants to procure the service can deliver a payload to the moon using the Eclipse program.

01:07:41 And so there are 20 payloads flying on the Peregrine spacecraft right now.

01:07:45 Five of those are NASA's.

01:07:46 Can you tell me a little bit about what they'll be studying once they get to the moon?

01:07:50 Yeah, so again, amazing service.

01:07:53 So our payloads are going to be studying things including understanding, you know, studying water,

01:07:59 studying the volatiles or the resources on the moon, studying the atmosphere,

01:08:04 and also the radiation environment to help inform us for the future when we have humans back on the moon.

01:08:10 Sandra, thank you so much.

01:08:11 I'm excited to see what we do with this initiative and this launch here today.

01:08:15 Thank you so much.

01:08:16 And let me just say, go Vulcan and go Peregrine 1.

01:08:20 Yes, you can totally say that.

01:08:21 Thank you so much.

01:08:22 Thank you.

01:08:23 All right, so when Peregrine lands on the near side of the moon on February 23rd,

01:08:27 it will be one of the first lunar landings for the U.S. since the final Apollo mission over 50 years ago.

01:08:33 Let's head back over to Astrobotics.

01:08:34 Olivia Chapla.

01:08:37 Thanks, Megan, and what a great day so far.

01:08:40 So for those of you just tuning in, I wanted to reintroduce myself.

01:08:44 I'm Olivia Chapla, Director of Marketing and Communications for Astrobotic.

01:08:48 Astrobotic is a space company with our primary headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

01:08:53 and we've just watched our Peregrine lunar lander rocket into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket.

01:09:00 This Peregrine spacecraft's mission is to carry 20 payloads or cargo to the lunar surface from seven different countries.

01:09:07 Six of those nations have never reached the moon before.

01:09:10 Our aim is to autonomously land on the lunar surface a few weeks from now.

01:09:15 We're taking the long way around, and we expect Peregrine to land on February 23rd, 2024.

01:09:21 We've got all eyes on the Peregrine lander as it waits to separate from the Vulcan rocket in about 30 minutes.

01:09:27 At that point, we will seek to establish communications with the lander.

01:09:31 And now we'll take a more in-depth look at Peregrine's full journey to the moon with an animation.

01:09:40 Once ULA's Vulcan rocket launches, we will then know the exact day the Peregrine spacecraft will attempt a soft landing on the moon.

01:09:47 The first landing attempt could be anywhere from 10 to 60 days from launch.

01:09:53 Because this is Peregrine's first ever trip to the moon, our team is not taking a direct path.

01:09:58 Peregrine will first complete one Earth orbit so the team can get critical data on the spacecraft

01:10:03 and test maneuvers before executing a very critical milestone, entering lunar orbit.

01:10:09 Peregrine will orbit the moon at three altitudes. The first orbit will last about 33 hours.

01:10:15 Peregrine's second orbit can be up to 35 days.

01:10:18 The spacecraft's third and final orbit around the moon will last 48 hours.

01:10:23 Next up, Peregrine will attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface autonomously.

01:10:29 The team will issue a landing sequence that will command the spacecraft to enter a descent orbit.

01:10:34 About 15 kilometers from the lunar surface, an exciting powered descent begins.

01:10:41 While we wait for the Peregrine spacecraft to separate from the Vulcan rocket and begin that exciting journey to the moon,

01:10:47 I have Astrobotics founder and Chief Executive Officer John Thornton.

01:10:54 Hi there, John. I understand you are currently at ULA just a stone's throw from where I am now,

01:11:00 and we both just saw ULA's Vulcan rocket achieve liftoff with our very own Peregrine aboard.

01:11:06 Tell me, after waiting for this moment for years, how are you feeling?

01:11:12 It's a dream. This is the moment we've been waiting for for 16 years,

01:11:16 and I'm standing in mission control, and we just had a beautiful launch.

01:11:19 Thank you, ULA. So, so, so excited. We are on our way to the moon.

01:11:27 I can tell you and everyone else are in a really, really excited buzz today for sure.

01:11:32 So tell me what else do you think is the most important thing about our Peregrine mission today?

01:11:38 So this is the beginning of the dawn of a new era for the surface of the moon and how we think about space.

01:11:43 This is an opportunity for commercial payloads to fly to the surface of the moon on a regular, routine basis.

01:11:49 That means our nation's scientists, our world's scientists, can access the moon in ways never before possible,

01:11:55 and we are seeing the beginnings of that right now as we speak on our journey to the surface of the moon.

01:12:00 Our first mission carries 20 payloads from all over the world.

01:12:03 Six nations on board the mission will touch the surface of the moon for the very first time.

01:12:09 It's a phenomenal, exciting mission to be a part of, and it's a real honor to be here today,

01:12:14 and I could not imagine a better start to the mission.

01:12:17 That's true. And what do you have to say to the astrobotic team

01:12:21 and to all the payload customers who made today's mission possible?

01:12:25 For 16 years, we've been pushing for this moment today,

01:12:29 and along the way, we had a lot of hard challenges that we had to overcome,

01:12:33 and a lot of people doubted us along the way.

01:12:35 But our team and the people that supported us believed in the mission,

01:12:39 and they created this beautiful moment that we're seeing today, working incredibly hard to make this possible.

01:12:45 I can't thank the thousands of people between our team, our suppliers, our partners,

01:12:50 that have made this moment possible today.

01:12:53 It's an unbelievable feat, and it is the culmination of all of everyone's effort coming together for this moment,

01:13:00 believing in this possibility that a small company in Pittsburgh, of all places in this country,

01:13:05 can lead America back to the surface of the moon.

01:13:09 Thank you, John.

01:13:11 Well, I'll let you get back to the team that are in Florida with us

01:13:14 as we wait for the Peregrine spacecraft to separate from Vulcan's rocket in about 30 to 40 minutes.

01:13:19 For now, back to my team.

01:13:21 Oh, thank you.

01:13:24 Now, CLPS missions are an important step in returning to and staying on the moon,

01:13:28 but these lunar landings that will help shape our future there are not without risks.

01:13:36 Landing on the moon is hard. We're going back.

01:13:38 Under this Artemis program, we're going to be sending humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo.

01:13:44 So ahead of humans, we want to get up as much science exploration and technology experiments as possible.

01:13:52 So CLPS starts facilitating a lot of the early science, the things we want to learn before we can send humans.

01:13:57 CLPS stands for Commercial Lunar Payload Services, CLPS.

01:14:02 The services part is the key element.

01:14:04 Ordinarily, when NASA delivers a payload to the surface of the moon,

01:14:07 they do it with a commercial partner, but NASA controls the building of the vehicle.

01:14:11 Now, we're buying the service of delivery of our lunar payloads to the surface of the moon.

01:14:16 It is a delivery service, akin to a delivery service that you'd have here on Earth.

01:14:21 NASA will provide payloads to a commercial company.

01:14:24 They decide how to get it to the moon.

01:14:26 They have to develop their own lander, but they also have to manage the entire end-to-end mission.

01:14:30 It's meant to provide affordable, rapid, frequent access to the lunar surface through American companies.

01:14:38 We're funding different companies.

01:14:39 We have commercial companies that are competing to win task orders to deliver our payloads to the surface of the moon.

01:14:46 One of the goals when we started CLPS was to help establish a lunar economy.

01:14:49 Somebody has to do it first, and then it becomes commercially available.

01:14:52 Then they're able to crank them up.

01:14:54 Then they're able to make it more affordable.

01:14:56 And so the lunar surface is just the next frontier for a commercial environment.

01:15:00 But we had to acknowledge up front, all the way through the highest levels of the agency leadership, that some of them will fail.

01:15:06 Some of these missions may not be as successful as a traditional NASA mission.

01:15:09 We have accepted the risk that going through this innovative approach with these commercial companies, that there could be some failures.

01:15:17 Some of them are new companies.

01:15:19 None of them have ever successfully landed on the surface of the moon.

01:15:22 So they're going to learn lessons.

01:15:24 We need to give our vendors the opportunity to learn.

01:15:26 And so that'll help ultimately buy down our risk as these companies learn,

01:15:31 "Okay, what does it take to actually build up the lunar lander, integrate payloads, get to the lunar surface and land safely?"

01:15:37 They've been able to demonstrate that they have very, very good technical depth and the ability to design and execute missions.

01:15:43 We're willing to take more shots on goal.

01:15:45 We aren't risking human life.

01:15:47 And in the big picture, if we're flying missions at one-tenth of the cost of a NASA mission, and we fail two of them, we still get eight missions for that same price.

01:15:55 Even with one or two or three failures, this is still a very economical proposition.

01:16:01 It's a risk posture which is more risk tolerant than NASA is accustomed to.

01:16:06 There's not a single one of these companies that's willing to bet their mission on a coin toss.

01:16:10 Every one of them is doing what they can in order to have the most successful mission possible.

01:16:14 But the important thing to realize is that risk tolerant does not mean risky.

01:16:18 And the rewards are a long-term ability to get payloads to the moon inexpensively, frequently and rapidly.

01:16:25 We want science, so we can then put more of our resources on even more science, exploration and technology payloads and get more of a return on investment when we get to the moon.

01:16:35 CLPS provides tremendous benefit across the scientific and economic communities.

01:16:39 So there's a lot we'd like to learn about the moon to help human habitation and prepare us for missions to Mars and beyond.

01:16:45 So the moon is the first step.

01:16:48 And a lot has to happen before Peregrine lands safely on the moon.

01:16:52 Astrobotics Olivia Chaplow shows how they tested the spacecraft here on Earth and what the team will do during its journey in space.

01:16:59 Peregrine has gone through quite a journey already and still has a long list of objectives to complete on its way to the moon.

01:17:07 We've categorized these objectives into five stages, beginning with engineering it here on Earth.

01:17:13 First, we built and tested a bolt-for-bolt engineering model of Peregrine.

01:17:18 Based on our findings, we constructed the final spacecraft to send to the moon.

01:17:22 Each iteration of Peregrine went through rigorous testing to ensure it will survive the harsh conditions of launch in space environments.

01:17:30 Phase two objectives will begin when the spacecraft separates from the rocket.

01:17:35 Once separated, Peregrine will power on and establish communications with Earth.

01:17:39 At this stage, we'll receive telemetry informing us of the spacecraft's position, orientation, and general operational health.

01:17:46 One of the first commands we send to the spacecraft will initiate thrusters to point Peregrine's solar panels at the sun to charge its battery.

01:17:54 We are planning for all of these objectives to be completed today.

01:17:57 Next, and off-camera, our phase three objectives begin.

01:18:01 These objectives include trajectory adjustment maneuvers in space before lunar orbit insertion.

01:18:07 After lunar insertion, Peregrine will complete three orbits around the moon.

01:18:11 Then, the last phase of the mission begins, lunar landing and operations.

01:18:16 And for a closer look at landing, I'm joined now by Mike Hennessey, Educational Director of the Moonshot Museum in Pittsburgh.

01:18:26 Good morning to you.

01:18:27 Good morning. It's spectacular to be here today.

01:18:29 Absolutely. We saw a launch, right?

01:18:30 Yeah, and it was awesome.

01:18:31 Yeah, absolutely.

01:18:32 So, talk to me about Peregrine and the spacecraft we have you on because you know a lot about Peregrine and this mission.

01:18:38 Why is that?

01:18:39 Well, every day I've had a front row seat at Peregrine under construction.

01:18:43 I work at the Moonshot Museum, and we share a wall of windows with Astrobotic.

01:18:47 And better yet, I've seen kids with their faces pressed against the glass knowing they're going to grow up to become that next generation of makers that take us to the moon.

01:18:55 That's fantastic.

01:18:56 And you also brought us some props here.

01:18:58 So, these are different parts, different materials that make up the multi-layer insulation.

01:19:04 That's what goes around the spacecraft, right?

01:19:06 Right. That's the thermal protective space blanket for the craft.

01:19:10 And we have a number of different materials here.

01:19:12 This is AstroQuartz.

01:19:13 It's a woven ceramic fiber, very heat resistant.

01:19:17 We've got aluminum, which is great for reflecting solar heat.

01:19:21 And this is also aluminum.

01:19:23 Glitter is a little more like gold.

01:19:25 It's just aluminum that's been covered with a polymer called Kapton.

01:19:29 And you can see it actually on our model here.

01:19:31 We have the Peregrine lander.

01:19:33 Right here.

01:19:34 This is the multi-layer insulation we're talking about.

01:19:36 Yeah, we've got the multi-layer insulation, and that's wrapping these fuel tanks, kind of like cosmic baked potatoes.

01:19:41 And why do we need all these different materials?

01:19:44 Well, the moon is a harsh environment, and it takes a lot of technical know-how to land there.

01:19:49 There's no atmospheric blanket like we have on Earth.

01:19:52 So we need a thermal space blanket to protect against wild temperature extremes,

01:19:56 boiling hot days, freezing cold nights, several hundred degrees below zero.

01:20:00 And Peregrine's been engineered to endure that.

01:20:03 Okay, so now we know how it will be protected during landing.

01:20:06 How will it land?

01:20:08 What technologies are we using to make sure that it lands safely when you say that the moon isn't the easiest place to land on?

01:20:13 Right, and that's my favorite part of the story because this robot is going to land itself.

01:20:18 Because we have about a two and a half second signal delay from the Earth to the moon and back,

01:20:23 it's like having a self-driving car going to another world.

01:20:25 We have a full suite of sensors, gyroscopes, Doppler, LIDAR, star trackers,

01:20:30 and a really cool technology called Terrain Relative Navigation, or TRN.

01:20:35 About nine miles out, Peregrine will activate its camera, and as it's descending,

01:20:42 and the camera's taking pictures, the computer will be playing kind of a high-speed game of flash cards.

01:20:47 Okay.

01:20:48 Comparing those pictures to 3D maps, and then Peregrine will have to make decisions in order to come to a landing.

01:20:54 We're going to test drive this technology on Peregrine, and then on Astrobotic's next lunar lander, Griffin,

01:20:59 TRN will be in the driver's seat when we head to the moon's south pole.

01:21:02 Oh, that's fantastic, and I know Griffin is going to be delivering another NASA payload,

01:21:05 so another partnership where we get to do this together.

01:21:08 Yeah, I think another great example of how CLPS is bringing together entrepreneurship

01:21:12 and accelerating the pace of science and taking us out into the solar system.

01:21:15 Mike, thank you so much. Thank you for being here.

01:21:17 Thank you.

01:21:18 All right, so the Astrobotic team hopes to land on the near side of the moon on February 23rd

01:21:23 in a place called the Bay of Stickiness, a lunar feature formed by ancient hardened lava flow.

01:21:30 It's located outside of the Grutheisen Domes, which is the largest dark spot on the moon.

01:21:36 Why does NASA want to conduct science here?

01:21:38 Well, on Earth, formations like these domes need significant water and also plate tectonics to form.

01:21:46 But without these key elements on the moon, lunar scientists have been left to wonder how the domes formed

01:21:52 and evolved over time.

01:21:54 We'll, of course, have coverage of the landing on our NASA+ app or whichever social platform you watch us on.

01:22:01 Now, earlier in the show, we told you about the NERVIS payload from NASA's Ames Research Center.

01:22:06 The other payload from Ames is the Neutron Spectrometer System, or NSS.

01:22:13 I'm Rick Elphick. I'm the principal investigator of the Neutron Spectrometer System aboard the Peregrine 1 lander.

01:22:19 NSS measures neutrons coming out of the lunar soil, and neutrons tell you a lot about the makeup of the lunar soil.

01:22:26 The neutrons that we measure with the neutron spectrometer are specifically related to the presence of hydrogen,

01:22:32 the H in H2O, or water, and that's its real purpose is to locate water, to actually act as a divining rod.

01:22:40 Peregrine will be landing in a location where we really don't expect very much water, if any, at all.

01:22:45 But it's an interesting experiment.

01:22:47 The exhaust system of its descent engines will actually spray paint the surface with its exhaust,

01:22:53 and part of that exhaust is water, and some of that water is actually going to stick onto the surface of the moon.

01:22:59 And then after we land, NSS can monitor how that water goes away as the sun rises at the landing site and the day gets warmer and warmer.

01:23:10 Water is really important as a resource for exploration.

01:23:13 Astronauts need it for drinking water, but you can also use it by splitting it up into hydrogen and oxygen as rocket fuel.

01:23:20 So if you can find water in place where you're going to, that means you can use it there and not have to bring it up from Earth.

01:23:31 Now NASA has two more payloads flying to the moon today.

01:23:34 We're going to tell you about both of them in just a few minutes, but first let's introduce you all to Chris Culbert,

01:23:39 Program Manager for CLPS out of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

01:23:42 Good morning to you.

01:23:43 Good morning, Megan. Thank you. It's a wonderful day.

01:23:45 It is. We just watched the launch. What did you think?

01:23:47 It was amazing. Oh my God, what a wonderful feeling. That rocket was gorgeous.

01:23:51 Yeah, and so NASA has five payloads hitching a ride.

01:23:55 Tell me about the different things that they'll be studying and why they're studying those things.

01:23:59 So this early mission for CLPS, this is our first mission.

01:24:02 So our first two early missions are mostly carrying small instruments that help us learn more about the environment of the moon.

01:24:09 As we get further into CLPS in future missions, we'll raise the complexity and start studying more complex, more difficult questions.

01:24:16 But at the beginning, we're mostly trying to characterize what the moon is like, what the radiation does,

01:24:22 what kind of environment we can find there. It doesn't have an atmosphere, but there's particles and dust and other things.

01:24:27 We're trying to get more information about that so that we can help guide future human missions more effectively.

01:24:32 And how soon could we see data from some of those instruments so that we can start creating that fuller picture?

01:24:38 We'll start getting data back within hours of landing on the moon.

01:24:42 Now, the scientists will need some time to analyze that information and turn it into the kind of information that helps guide future missions.

01:24:48 But we should be getting data back from the moon within a few hours of landing,

01:24:52 and we'll all wait for as long as 14 days on the moon. We'll be gathering that data.

01:24:58 But the scientists will then take that information offline and analyze it for a while.

01:25:01 So basically, these missions, these instruments that we're sending, they're scouting the moon for us.

01:25:06 Yes. Yeah, they're telling us what the moon is like,

01:25:09 helping us understand what we need to know so that we can take humans there safely.

01:25:13 It also allows us to better design future instruments and other experiments that will pinpoint the kinds of things we need to know about the moon to be able to work and live there.

01:25:20 Chris, thank you so much. Thank you for being here.

01:25:22 You're welcome.

01:25:23 OK, so we're now less than a few minutes away until the Peregrine spacecraft separates from Vulcan's Centaur upper stage.

01:25:30 We're going to go back to ULA for that milestone.

01:25:32 But before that, another quick status update on Peregrine from Olivia.

01:25:37 Thanks, Megan. And now I'm checking in on Astrobotic's mission control team.

01:25:43 In about 20 to 30 minutes, they're expecting Peregrine to power on and then try to communicate with them on the ground.

01:25:50 Peregrine will establish ground communications with NASA's Deep Space Network, and then we will begin receiving telemetry.

01:25:57 As we wait for those milestones, here's an in-depth look at the inner workings of the Peregrine lunar lander.

01:26:03 And now we'll take a look at the Peregrine spacecraft.

01:26:07 You'll notice that we've removed the MLI, or multilayer insulation, so we can better see the inside of the spacecraft.

01:26:13 Throughout Peregrine's journey, they'll keep an eye on the spacecraft's temperatures, pressures, power levels, and communications system.

01:26:20 Solar panels at the top of Peregrine charge its batteries to power the spacecraft.

01:26:24 Moving down towards the center of the spacecraft are the payload decks.

01:26:28 You'll notice the decks have a unique isogrid pattern that we've used as an inspiration for a lot of our graphic design for the mission.

01:26:35 This structure pattern optimizes the sturdiness of the payload decks while also minimizing its weight.

01:26:40 Affixed to these decks are all 20 payloads.

01:26:43 20 individual pieces of cargo from 7 different countries are aboard these two main decks.

01:26:48 Peregrine has 12 attitude control system engines, called thrusters, that are used to orient the spacecraft.

01:26:54 You can see four large propellant tanks filled with monomethylhydrazine and multiple mixtures of oxygen-nitrogen, or MON, as oxidizer.

01:27:03 Mounted to the bottom of the spacecraft are five main engines that will slow the craft down as it approaches the lunar surface.

01:27:09 These engines use a hypergolic bipropellant pressure-fed system.

01:27:13 Believe it or not, Peregrine will use the majority of its fuel in the last 15 minutes of the mission as we attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface.

01:27:22 Peregrine has four landing legs attached to its base.

01:27:26 These legs have a honeycomb structure on the inside that will crush to absorb the impact of Peregrine landing on the lunar surface.

01:27:32 Peregrine is designed for an autonomous landing.

01:27:35 That means it will use complex computing and a suite of sensors instead of human pilots.

01:27:40 There are two antenna relays and a high-power transponder to relay communications between the spacecraft and the astrobotic team.

01:27:47 The relay will connect Peregrine with NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN,

01:27:52 utilizing the same dishes that communicate with the James Webb Space Telescope as well as other historic missions.

01:27:58 And the last major feature of Peregrine is something you can't see.

01:28:03 It's the hundreds of people who have worked on, tested, and gotten the spacecraft to the launch pad today.

01:28:09 A shout-out to the team we like calling the astrobots,

01:28:12 and a shout-out to our payload customers who are sending their items to the Moon with us.

01:28:16 Your continued commitment to science and lunar exploration is important for humanity.

01:28:22 The Peregrine lunar lander has 20 pieces of cargo called payloads aboard.

01:28:26 You can find the full manifest on the astrobotics website, but here is a look at a few of the payloads.

01:28:32 This is the IRIS rover.

01:28:37 This is a student-built rover with a mission to take photos and send them back to Earth as it drives across the lunar landscape.

01:28:44 Once Peregrine lands on the Moon, IRIS will deploy to the surface to begin its mission.

01:28:49 And here we have another Carnegie Mellon University payload called MoonArc.

01:28:54 MoonArc is seen as a cultural museum to the Moon.

01:28:57 Comprised of four independent chambers and weighing a combined total of 10 ounces,

01:29:02 it contained hundreds of images, poems, music, nano-objects, and earthly samples.

01:29:08 Next, we have Colmena, a fleet of micro-rovers and the first Latin American scientific instrument ever sent to the Moon.

01:29:16 Consisting of five small rovers, it will demonstrate a coordinated Moon exploration.

01:29:22 Lastly, we have the DHL Moonbox.

01:29:27 Former astronaut Richard Garriott and thousands of others from around the world

01:29:31 have sent small mementos to link life's meaningful moments with our nearest celestial neighbor.

01:29:37 Now this is just a snippet of the 20 payloads aboard Peregrine.

01:29:41 Again, you can find the full list on Astrobotics' website.

01:29:44 Now back to Megan.

01:29:46 We are now less than 10 minutes away from Peregrine's separation,

01:29:50 so let's get back over to the ULA team and Amanda Sterling to take us through that.

01:29:54 Thanks, Megan, and thanks to those of you who are still following mission progress of ULA's Vulcan CERT-1 flight.

01:30:02 For those who are just tuning in, I'm Amanda Sterling, and I'm here at ULA's Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center

01:30:08 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

01:30:11 ULA's inaugural Vulcan rocket lifted off on its first flight test at 2-18-38 a.m. Eastern,

01:30:19 and all systems continue to operate nominally.

01:30:22 One minute, one second burn.

01:30:29 [Pause for respiration]

01:30:47 And we've begun pressurizing the propellant tanks in preparation for second burn.

01:30:51 [Pause for respiration]

01:31:06 Going up on LH2 pre-start.

01:31:08 [Pause for respiration]

01:31:22 LH2 pre-start.

01:31:23 [Pause for respiration]

01:31:28 This is Vulcan Mission Control at T+43 minutes, 8 seconds.

01:31:32 Coming up next is the second main engine start of ULA's Centaur upper stage.

01:31:37 Let's listen in.

01:31:38 Change to the start position. Everything looking good.

01:31:41 [Pause for respiration]

01:31:53 About 15 seconds to miss.

01:31:55 [Pause for respiration]

01:32:06 We have ignition. Full thrust. Two good engines. Everything looking good.

01:32:12 [Pause for respiration]

01:32:17 This is Vulcan Mission Control at T+43 minutes, 57 seconds.

01:32:22 As we approach Peregrine separation, let's learn more about the first spacecraft to launch

01:32:27 in NASA's new CLPS initiative to have American companies send its science experiments to the moon.

01:32:34 Astrobotic is a full-service lunar company.

01:32:37 It starts with our terrestrial testing and development services that can build propulsion systems

01:32:42 and test propulsion systems on Earth, to the sensors that make precision landing possible,

01:32:47 to our rovers that will deploy down on the surface of the moon,

01:32:50 to one day our power systems that will deploy on the moon and provide sustaining power

01:32:54 for infrastructure on the surface.

01:32:56 Astrobotic is in all of those businesses and we are in the business of making space accessible to the world

01:33:01 and the moon is just the beginning.

01:33:03 The big thing that we're known for is our two lunar missions to go to the surface of the moon.

01:33:07 Our first one is about to launch and our second one flies in 2024.

01:33:11 The Peregrine mission is important because it's among the first commercial missions to return to the surface of the moon.

01:33:18 This is the first time as a nation going back since Apollo.

01:33:21 It's the first time for six nations that could land on the surface of the moon with our mission.

01:33:27 This is the dawn of a new era of affordable, routine, regular access to the surface.

01:33:32 What that means is our nations and world scientists can access the moon on a routine, regular basis.

01:33:38 They don't have to wait for the culmination of their career for one single super mission.

01:33:42 They can go back again and again and again.

01:33:45 It's the beginnings of learning about the resources on the surface of the moon

01:33:48 and potentially one day turning those resources into something that we can use in space

01:33:53 and maybe one day return back here to Earth.

01:33:56 Peregrine's development was a years-long process that included many people,

01:34:01 like engineers, welders and technicians, who designed and built the spacecraft.

01:34:05 Landing a spacecraft on the moon is very complex.

01:34:09 The team worked long hours to get Peregrine to the launch pad.

01:34:12 To be on the pad today with our spacecraft strapped to a giant 200-foot-tall launch vehicle

01:34:18 ready to blast into the heavens is, it's a little surreal.

01:34:21 It's a moment I've been dreaming about for 16 years.

01:34:24 And to see it all on one rocket, it's terrifying and exciting and thrilling all at once.

01:34:31 Our Peregrine lunar lander starts its journey to the moon in Florida on a Vulcan launch vehicle.

01:34:36 That will blast us into translunar injection, heading us straight out to the moon,

01:34:41 where we will enter lunar orbit and start our descent down to the surface.

01:34:45 At this point, engines are firing, all eyes are tuned in,

01:34:49 and as we soft touch down on the surface of the moon,

01:34:52 that marks the beginning of our surface operations and our payloads deploying.

01:34:58 As a nation and as a company, as individuals, we all persevere to overcome challenges,

01:35:03 and we're going to continue to do that.

01:35:05 And this first mission is just our first step,

01:35:08 our first attempt to make space accessible to the world,

01:35:11 and it certainly will not be our last.

01:35:13 Pressures.

01:35:21 [Silence]

01:35:28 This is Vulcan Mission Control at T+ 47 minutes, 8 seconds.

01:35:33 We're a few seconds from the second main engine cutoff.

01:35:36 Here's Rob Gannon.

01:35:38 30 seconds, Tsunamu, Nomiko.

01:35:42 [Silence]

01:35:51 20 seconds.

01:35:53 We're going to open loop on PU, coming up on cutoff.

01:36:00 We have cutoff.

01:36:02 Everything is looking good.

01:36:08 And we are now in a 2 minute, 49 second coast phase of spacecraft separation.

01:36:14 We've got full settling going after Miko.

01:36:20 And we're reorienting to spacecraft subattitude.

01:36:26 [Silence]

01:36:55 And continuing to maneuver to our MESS-2 attitude.

01:36:59 [Silence]

01:37:28 And we're inside a minute and a half to spacecraft separation.

01:37:31 Body rates are nulling out.

01:37:35 [Silence]

01:37:47 And this mission does call for a roll spin for spacecraft separation of half a second.

01:37:53 We'll be starting that maneuver shortly.

01:37:58 [Silence]

01:38:22 [Silence]

01:38:30 This is Vulcan mission control at T+50 minutes, 10 seconds.

01:38:34 Vulcan has executed all mission events expected and we are now approaching delivery

01:38:39 of the astrobotic Peregrine Commercial Lunar Lander into a highly elliptical orbit,

01:38:44 more than 220,000 miles above Earth to intercept the moon.

01:38:49 Let's return to flight commentator Rob Gannon as we approach separation.

01:38:53 [Applause]

01:38:55 We are spinning down.

01:38:57 [Silence]

01:38:59 [Applause]

01:39:02 And we are now in a 28 minute coast period, the third burn of Centaur.

01:39:07 [Silence]

01:39:25 This is Vulcan mission control at T+51 minutes, 6 seconds.

01:39:30 We just heard confirmation of Peregrine spacecraft separation.

01:39:34 I'm now back with ULA President and CEO, Torrey Bruno.

01:39:39 Torrey, our first Vulcan rocket just delivered its first payload to orbit.

01:39:44 How are you feeling?

01:39:46 Yeehaw! I am so thrilled, I can't tell you how much.

01:39:50 Absolutely. And again, we're not completely done with the mission here today.

01:39:55 Is there anything else that you want to share with the audience?

01:39:59 I am so proud of this team. Oh my gosh, this has been years of hard work.

01:40:04 So far, this has been an absolutely beautiful mission.

01:40:08 Back to the moon and off to our next burn where we will do our final payload deployment

01:40:13 to that heliocentric orbit for the memorial.

01:40:17 Our team has done such a good job. Bravo, Zulu, to everyone.

01:40:22 This is just, it's hard to describe.

01:40:25 Yeah, absolutely. I feel that too. So again, thank you so much for joining us on our show.

01:40:31 Congratulations and we'll let you get back to finish the rest of the mission.

01:40:34 Congratulations to you. Give me a hug.

01:40:38 All right.

01:40:40 [no audio]

01:41:03 Two minutes, 40 seconds.

01:41:05 We're going to pass the broadcast back to the NASA team to continue mission coverage.

01:41:10 We'll be joining back in as we approach the final engine burn. Over to you, Megan.

01:41:15 Thank you, Amanda, and well done, ULA team.

01:41:18 So throughout the broadcast, we have been telling you about the five NASA payloads that are flying on this mission.

01:41:23 We've shown you in depth three of them and now we have the final two.

01:41:27 So NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has two payloads aboard today's flight

01:41:31 and one of those is the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, a.k.a. PITMAS.

01:41:36 Its job is to understand the release and movement of lunar surface volatiles like water.

01:41:42 My name is Barbara Cohen. I am the principal investigator or the lead of the science team for the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer.

01:41:50 PITMAS, the instrument I work on, is going to inform our understanding of the volatile cycle on the moon.

01:41:57 It is water, carbon dioxide, methane, all sorts of fun molecules that we want to measure on the surface of the moon and in the lunar exosphere.

01:42:05 So we are trying to learn about the water at the poles by going back to where it comes from,

01:42:10 to the solar wind and micrometeorites that are coming in now and understanding how much is there now,

01:42:16 how much could be there in the future, how much was there in the past.

01:42:20 We're interested in that atmosphere and what it's made out of and that's what PITMAS will monitor.

01:42:25 The reason it's so important to measure the lunar exosphere is because that is a process that's happening today

01:42:31 that includes all of the things we're interested in for human exploration.

01:42:35 Our Artemis program is going to the South Pole because there are resources there.

01:42:39 If you don't have to bring your water with you, if you can use the water that's there,

01:42:43 that saves you a lot of mass going up with your astronauts.

01:42:47 And the fifth and final NASA payload we want to show you is the Laser Retroreflector or LRA.

01:42:54 It's a unique type of mirror used to measure distance and this is why it's so critical for future missions.

01:43:01 My name is Xiaoli Sun. I'm a LIDAR instrument scientist and also work on other laser instruments.

01:43:07 The instrument is a Laser Retroreflector Array.

01:43:10 It's a small retroreflector mounted on a shell, on an aluminum shell, support shell.

01:43:17 It retroreflects laser light back to where it came from.

01:43:21 The purpose is to, number one, to have a fiducial marker, a precise fiducial marker on the lander

01:43:28 so that we know exactly where that is on the lunar surface.

01:43:34 It serves as a landmark for future missions if you want to go back and land it there.

01:43:41 When you shine laser on it, it reflects right back at you.

01:43:45 So it doesn't matter which way you're looking at it and so that will help us to range from orbit to the lander as you pass overhead.

01:43:58 All right. It's now been about 55 minutes since Vulcan and Peregrine lifted off from the space coast of Florida.

01:44:03 Let's get back to Olivia and the astrobotic team as they work to confirm acquisition of signal with their spacecraft.

01:44:10 Thanks, Megan. As you saw, we just got confirmation that the Peregrine spacecraft separated from the Vulcan rocket

01:44:17 and now we are waiting to establish a space to ground communications connection.

01:44:21 We expect for this to take a few more minutes.

01:44:24 This connection helps engineers in Astrobotics Mission Control Center pass commands,

01:44:28 receive telemetry and determine the location of Peregrine in space.

01:44:33 Peregrine will be utilizing NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN.

01:44:37 They're 34 meter dishes in Australia, Spain and California.

01:44:41 These dishes are the same suite used to communicate with the James Webb telescope as well as other historic missions.

01:44:48 So our flight director on console, Alex Van Hoven, will be calling out what is happening in Astrobotics Mission Control Center.

01:44:55 And now as we look at Astrobotics Mission Control Center, you can see the rows of our staff all monitoring the spacecraft.

01:45:02 In the room today, we have three of six. Broadcast, this is Mission Control Flight Director announcement.

01:45:07 Repeat, broadcast, this is Mission Control Flight Director with an announcement.

01:45:11 The mission team is still waiting for communications with Peregrine with earliest AOS at 080905 UTC,

01:45:18 in approximately two and a half minutes.

01:45:21 To repeat, the mission team is still waiting for communication with Peregrine with the earliest AOS expected at 080905 UTC.

01:45:29 And folks, that was Alex Van Hoven, our flight director on console.

01:45:33 He is calling out UTC times, or sort of space times.

01:45:37 And we're waiting for that acquisition of signal with the Peregrine spacecraft.

01:45:42 Correction, earliest AOS at 0818 UTC.

01:45:48 Earliest AOS at 0818 UTC.

01:45:53 Now you can almost see Alex Van Hoven in the back row, right below the eye in astrobotic.

01:46:05 You can kind of see his head. Maybe he'll stand up for us at least one time. We'll see.

01:46:10 He's very focused and busy.

01:46:19 Today we have three of six flight directors on console for launch.

01:46:23 Once we establish communications with Peregrine and the spacecraft officially begins its journey towards the moon,

01:46:29 the flight directors will work in shifts so there is always one present in mission control.

01:46:35 I would ask them to all give a wave, but they're definitely laser focused on their screens, checking up on the spacecraft.

01:46:42 Now Alex, he's giving us those live updates, and he is also senior aerospace engineer,

01:46:47 and he oversaw the development of Peregrine's in-flight procedures.

01:46:51 He developed his flight expertise as part of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

01:46:56 Broadcast, Mission Control Flight Director announcement. I repeat, broadcast, Mission Control Flight Director announcement.

01:47:12 At this time, astrobotic has confirmed that we have established communications with Peregrine,

01:47:18 and we are now receiving live telemetry. I repeat, we have just established communications with DSN

01:47:25 and can confirm that we are receiving telemetry from the satellite.

01:47:38 Now, confirming, my goodness, we have received signal with the Peregrine spacecraft

01:47:44 and we are communicating with it here on Earth. You just heard it from Alex.

01:47:49 The team will begin sending commands to Peregrine to continue its journey to the lunar surface.

01:47:54 What an incredible day. Now, thank you so much for continuing to tune in with us

01:47:59 to watch this historic launch of astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander on its journey to the moon.

01:48:05 I'm Olivia Chaplow with Astrobotic, and it is such a happy day for astrobotic.

01:48:10 I'm kind of speechless. So back to Megan at the hostess. Thank you very much.

01:48:16 Hey, congratulations, Olivia. I know that that must have been really nerve-wracking

01:48:21 to see such a big moment and it being finally here. So congratulations to her and the rest of the team.

01:48:27 And actually, right now here with me, I have Andy Jones, and he is the Director of Landers and Spacecraft for Astrobotic.

01:48:33 And Andy, I saw you, you were over off the camera, but I saw you go, yes.

01:48:39 As soon as we confirmed acquisition of signals. So talk us through that. How are you feeling?

01:48:44 Relieved. More than anything else, relieved. I mean, getting communication is just so important to everything else we want to try and do.

01:48:51 So now I can start enjoying the moment, enjoying the excitement of getting into space.

01:48:56 Yeah. At least you didn't have to wait long. You know, there was a window, right?

01:48:59 We got it right at the beginning of the possible window. Just just a credit to all the great work the team has done to actually get it to acquire it so fast.

01:49:06 Yeah. It's just a brilliant set of machine. Brilliant people working on it. So, yeah, very proud.

01:49:12 Yeah. What would you say to the team? You know, again, I know that you guys have been working on this for years.

01:49:16 What would you say to them as it culminates in this moment right now? Get back to work.

01:49:21 Not even going to give them a break. OK. We're hardworking folks at Astrobotic, guys.

01:49:26 Extremely proud. The team should be extremely proud of themselves. It's been a fast road.

01:49:31 A lot of setbacks, a lot of ups, lots of downs. The team took everything in their stride and as you can see, achieved remarkable things.

01:49:39 So proud of everybody, what they've done. Inspirational to everybody.

01:49:45 Yeah. And what's next for Astrobotic and NASA? You know, it seems like we're going back to the moon for a second time, huh?

01:49:50 It is. So once obviously successful completion of this mission, we have Griffin, which takes the Viper rover to the moon late 2024.

01:50:01 Following that, we have a as early as 2026 tipping point where we do a demonstration of power transmission across the lunar surface.

01:50:09 And also Astrobotic is part of the national team led by Blue Origin to take humans back to the moon.

01:50:16 And we're part of the cargo lander system for that. So a lot of things to look forward to.

01:50:22 Lots to look forward to. Just one last question for you. I mean, just what do you think of this new initiative that NASA has to really bring in all of these small U.S.

01:50:30 companies to hopefully help us all go back to the moon?

01:50:34 This initiative is incredibly important. It allows a small company like Astrobotic to actually deliver a lander to to the moon.

01:50:43 We'd have never been able to achieve it without that. But the best the best thing is, it's bringing a lot more creative minds, new minds, new thinking to the table.

01:50:51 And that will help us accelerate the technologies needed to get us back to the moon and have a robust resource and.

01:51:03 Presence on the moon. So the more it's very important for us to be there and it's just helping us get there much faster.

01:51:10 Andy, thank you so much. And congratulations again. Thank you very much.

01:51:13 And that's going to do it for us here at Kennedy Space Center. Thank you for sharing in the excitement of NASA's first CLPS launch.

01:51:20 Now on its own, the Peregrine spacecraft will coast for an expected arrival at the moon on February 23rd and coverage of that landing.

01:51:27 One of the first U.S. landings on the moon in over 50 years. That will be broadcast on NASA TV and NASA plus.

01:51:34 For those of you watching on ULA platforms, the ULA version of the simulcast will continue in a few moments as they await another milestone in this inaugural Vulcan flight.

01:51:44 Again, thank you so much for joining us. We leave you now with a final look at today's historic launch.

01:51:55 T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. We have ignition.

01:52:09 And liftoff of the first United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, launching a new era in spaceflight to the moon and beyond.

01:52:22 Engines operating normally. Two good SRBs hitting peak pressure on the SRBs. Everything looking good.

01:52:33 [ Sound effects ]

01:52:38 [ Silence ]

01:52:44 [ Silence ]

01:52:50 [ Silence ]

01:52:56 [ Silence ]

01:53:02 [ Silence ]

01:53:08 [ Silence ]

01:53:14 [ Silence ]

01:53:20 [ Silence ]

01:53:26 [ Silence ]

01:53:32 [ Music ]

Category

Transcript

Recommended