Pennsylvania-based space company Astrobotic has unveiled its lunar lander, the first US lunar lander since the last Apollo mission almost half a century ago.
The mission is part of the space agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, designed to leverage contractors to deliver cargo to the surface of the Moon.
It is an exciting preamble on the long road of returning the first astronauts to the lunar surface since the 1970s and establishing a permanent presence there.
John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, said that the lander was returning the nation to the Moon for the first time in nearly 50 years.
NASA is planning seven missions to the Moon in the next few years, with two of them under contract with Astrobotic.
This year, Astrobotic is looking to send 14 different payloads, totaling just shy of 200 pounds, to a larger crater on the near side of the Moon.
The company's website states that the lander can be mounted above or below its decks, or inside or outside of enclosures.
The United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket was chosen by the company for this year's launch.
There are instruments that can be used to probe the lunar surface for evidence of water and other things.
According to a user guide, the successor to Peregrine is a medium-class lander that can accommodate larger payloads, but it is not clear when it will actually be built.
Putin says Russia will land on the moon this year.
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