January 19: This article has been updated to include information from a press conference the day after it was originally published.
A spacecraft headed for the moon’s surface eventually returned to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere Thursday afternoon.
Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology announced Posting to social network X Contact with the Hayabusa Lunar Module was lost at 3:50 p.m. ET, indicating that the spacecraft entered Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean at approximately 4:04 p.m.
On Friday, the U.S. Space Force confirmed Peregrine’s destruction. Astrobotic plans to convene a review committee of space industry experts to figure out what went wrong.
This, although disappointing, was intended to be the end of a journey that lasted 10 days, traveled more than 500,000 miles, and saw the spacecraft pass through the moon’s orbit before returning toward Earth. Ta. However, the spacecraft never approached its landing destination on the moon’s near side.
The spacecraft’s main payload was provided by NASA as part of an effort to use private companies to perform low-cost experiments on the moon. Astrobotic’s launch was the first in a program known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). NASA paid Astrobotic $108 million to transport five experiments that cost $9 million to build.
Peregrine launched flawlessly from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 8 on the debut flight of a modern rocket known as Vulcan. However, shortly after separating from the rocket’s second stage, a major failure occurred in the propulsion system, and the spacecraft was unable to continue pointing its solar panels toward the sun.
Astrobotic engineers were able to reorient Peregrine so that the battery could be charged. However, a propellant leak made the planned moon landing impossible. The company’s current theory is that the valve failed to close and the high-pressure flow of helium caused the propellant tank to rupture.
Astrobotic initially estimated that Peregrine would run out of propellant and die within a few days. However, as the leak slowed, the spacecraft continued to operate. All 10 powered payloads, including four from NASA, successfully turned on, demonstrating that the spacecraft’s power system is functional. (His fifth payload for NASA, a laser reflector, did not require electrical power.) Other customers include small rovers built by Carnegie Mellon University students and experiments for the German and Mexican space agencies. The payload was also powered up.
“After that anomaly, we had victory after victory, showing that the spacecraft was operational in space,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said at a press conference Friday. ” he said.
The company announced over the weekend that the spacecraft had been blown off course by a propellant leak and was on track to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The company said it decided to leave Peregrine in its orbit to prevent the malfunctioning spacecraft from potentially colliding with satellites around Earth.
More landers are heading to the moon.
On Friday, Japan’s robotic spacecraft SLIM, currently in orbit around the moon, successfully landed on the moon despite running out of power due to a problem with its solar array.
The next commercial mission from Houston-based Intuitive Machines, funded by NASA, could launch as early as mid-February.
Astrobotic has a NASA contract to carry a much larger payload to the moon. Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER). VIPER will travel through the moon’s south polar region, including entering permanently shadowed craters, some of the coldest places in the solar system. Its mission is to gather important scientific reconnaissance before astronauts head there.
Peregrine’s experiment cost NASA $9 million, but VIPER, which will cost more than $430 million to build and operate, will be mounted on Astrobotic’s larger lander, Griffin.
The VIPER mission is currently scheduled to launch in November, but that means NASA will have to fly the critical and expensive vehicle on an unproven spacecraft from a company that has not yet successfully landed on the moon.
Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy assistant administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Directorate, said at a Friday press conference that he is considering what happens to Peregrine before deciding whether to modify the contract with Astrobotic for Peregrine’s delivery. He said he would like to see the results of the investigation. Viper.
“We want to really understand the root causes and contributing factors of what happened with Peregrine, and see if we need to change the plan for Griffin,” Dr. Kearns said. Ta.