11 Days to SLIM Lunar Landing Attempt as Astrobotic Troubleshoots and Intuitive Machines Preps for NET Feb Launch
JAXA SLIM tightening 6.4 hour / 600 x 4,000 km elliptical lunar orbit ahead of maneuvers which are to bring landing craft to 15 x 600 km pre-landing orbit by 19 Jan JST ahead of 20 Jan 12:20 JST (19 Jan 10:20 EST) landing attempt which will employ unique horizontal landing strategy with goal of 100-m landing accuracy; Astrobotic team reestablish Peregrine communication and electrical power following successful ULA Vulcan Centaur launch and subsequent orientation anomaly, reconfiguration of mission may limit operations to lunar orbit and/or transit; Intuitive Machines NOVA-C set to be NASA CLPS next ‘shot on goal’ launching within multi-day window opening mid-Feb