Amazing! The first Hungarian object is on its way to the Moon – VIDEO

The United States of America has launched another lander to the Moon. On board, a Hungarian space capsule with a number of ornaments has been placed.

The Moon is the destination again

More than 50 years after the Apollo 17 mission, the United States of America has embarked on a new lunar mission. The Astrobotic Technology company launched its Peregrine lander at 8.18 a.m. Hungarian time on 8 January 2024 to deliver NASA instruments and a 90 kg payload to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Module Transfer Service (CLPS).

The Peregrine lander, standing at 1.9 metres in height and 2.5 metres in width, weighs 1283 kg. Equipped with five engines and a solar panel atop to power the internal battery, this spacecraft is a marvel of engineering.

Hungarian artefact in space

Astrobotic Technology wants the project to be profitable. To this end, the Peregrine’s payload bay has been made available to civilians. Puli Space Technologies, based in Budapest, is the only Hungarian company to have an object on board the spacecraft.

A replica of a Space Time Plaque ceramic plaque made of aluminium was placed in the time capsule, the company said.

Photo: Puli Space Technologies

The plaque, measuring 200×200 millimetres and weighing 160 grams, is engraved with thousands of characters, including the history of the Golden Team and the life’s work of Sándor Weöres, as well as the work of many contemporary Hungarian scientists whose research has influenced the future of humanity. They include Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó, biochemist Veronika Ádám, physicist László Barabási Albert Barabási, neurobiologist Tamás Freund, biologist Éva Kondorosi and physicist Zoltán Bay, whose achievements and work have been sent into space.

The probe will attempt to land on the northern hemisphere of the Moon on 23 February, hvg.hu reports.

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