Historic Peregrine Mission to the Moon Sees No Hope of Safe Lunar Landing, Has Less Than 40 Hours Before It Loses Power Entirely

(Photo : GREGG NEWTON/AFP via Getty Images) The brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41d at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 8, 2024, for its maiden voyage, carrying Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander. The mission, called Cert-1, will also carry on board the cremated remains of several people associated with the original "Star Trek" series, including creator Gene Roddenberry and cast member Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed the character Uhura. Roddenberry's ashes have been launched into orbit before.

The historic commercial US mission of Astrobotic is going to fail after the craft critically suffered from fuel loss.

Peregrine Mission To Fail

Boarded atop the new Vulcan rocket of the United Launch Alliance, the Peregrine Lunar Lander of Astrobotic launched last Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was able to successfully separate from the vehicle for launching.

However, after a few hours, malfunctions were reported by the company. This began with being unable to orient the solar panel of the lander to the Sun and maintain the topping up of its battery. This was due to a glitch in propulsion that also led to external damages on the craft.

After the system went offline for a brief period, the lander was found to suffer from a propulsion system failure that led to critical propellant losses. The leak force was strong enough to make the lander spin. This made it require more fuel for it to be burned and to make it keep facing the Sun.

With this, Astrobotic reported that the Peregrine Lander did not have any chance to soft land over the Moon. The company notes that at this time, their goal would be to get the lander as close as possible to the Moon before it loses its capacity to keep its Sun-pointing position and its subsequent power.

The lander's remaining fuel is tantamount to less than 40 hours of functionality. Astrobotic relayed plans to operate the craft until its propellant was consumed.

When the craft's fuel is expended, its solar panels will end up slipping into darkness, and its batteries will drain quickly.

While the Peregrine Lunar Lander will never reach the Moon, it will hold the cargo of five scientific instruments from NASA for as long as it has power. These cargos include the DNA of John F. Kennedy, who is the former president of America, and a single hair strand of Arthur C. Clarke, who is a sci-fi author.

On top of this, the lander also holds the remains of Gene Roddennberry, who created Star Trek, and the ashes of 60 more individuals.

ALSO READ: Vulcan Centaur Launches Astrobotic's Lunar Lander: Peregrine Faces Fuel Issue After Historic U.S. Soft Moon Landing Attempt

Commercial Failure

NASA has paid Astrobotic over $100 million in order to bring scientific hardware to a mid-latitude lunar region. This was done in order to answer questions pertaining to the composition of the surface and the radiation in the environment that surrounds it, as it readies itself to bring astronauts back to the nearest neighbor of the Earth later this decade.

The US has been turning to commercial entities in order to stimulate a wider economy at the Moon and cost-cut. However, the failure of Astrobotic heightens the scrutiny pertaining to this strategy.

Nevertheless, Astrobotic expressed that it was still getting crucial data that would help with the preparations of their coming contracted mission, which involves the deployment of the Griffin lander that will be transporting a NASA rover to the south pole of the Moon. This is set to happen later this year.

RELATED ARTICLE: NASA Launching Lunar Landers and Science Payloads on Its Historic Return to the Moon

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