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The first US Moon mission since Apollo, carrying a chunk of expertise developed by UK scientists, has blasted off into space.
The Peregrine Mission One (PM1) – constructed by US space firm Astrobotic – is ready to turn out to be the primary personal probe to land on the lunar floor.
The spacecraft is now flying solo on its solution to the Moon, the place it can try and land on February 23.
If profitable, Peregrine might turn out to be the primary industrial lander, and first American lander in additional than 50 years, to land on the Moon.
The Vulcan rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 7.18am GMT.
Onboard is an instrument generally known as the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS), which was developed within the UK by scientists from The Open University (OU) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) RAL Space – the UK’s nationwide space lab – in collaboration with Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Washington DC.
Astrobotic chief government John Thornton mentioned: “Today Peregrine Mission One achieved a number of big milestones.
“Peregrine powered on, acquired a signal with Earth, and is now moving through space on its way to the Moon.
“These successes bring us one step closer to seven nations landing on the Moon, six of which have never been to the Moon before.”
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