Inspired by Elon Musk-led SpaceX, NASA built missteps into moonshot strategy
When the first US-made moon lander launched in more than 50 years experienced a critical failure shortly after reaching space on Monday, the news was initially a shock. But NASA was prepared. The Peregrine lander, built by a Pittsburgh-based startup called Astrobotic, had barely been deployed into orbit before it suffered an apparent propulsion error, causing it to leak propellant into space. After a day, the company said there was no chance the spacecraft would reach the moon.
NASA actually anticipated a few low-stakes mishaps like this while carrying out its moonshot strategy, drawing inspiration from Elon Musk's SpaceX and Wall Street. The agency's grander plan is to send humans back to the moon some time this decade.
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Astrobotic's Peregrine lander was created in partnership with NASA's CLPS (pronounced “Clips”) program, which stands for Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The idea of the program is to help foster development of privately made lunar landers that can carry NASA payloads, while accepting that some partners get further than others.
“Unlike other NASA programs, if there's a failure in this program, it's not a total loss,” Jim Bridenstine, the former administrator for NASA who oversaw the creation of CLPS, said before Astrobotic's launch. “We modeled this after venture capital.”
NASA has increasingly embraced this type of framework since the turn of the century. The thinking goes: Partially fund the development of a company's hardware, then buy rides or services when the hardware's complete.
That stands in contrast to the way NASA used to do things. For years, if the space agency wanted something made, it usually funded and oversaw the entirety of a vehicle's
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