In less than 24 hours after it launched, the Peregrine spacecraft was announced to likely never reach the lunar surface.
Astrobotic Technology is a Pittsburgh-based aerospace company that has been developing space robotics for planetary and lunar missions for the past five decades. Under a $108 million contract with NASA, Astrobotic Technology developed the lunar lander Peregrine.
On the morning of January 9, 2024, Peregrine was launched from Florida. It was the United States’ first Commercial Moon Launch and the US’ first lunar landing since 1972. If all went well, Peregrine was expected to reach the moon around February 23.
Just hours after the successful deployment, Astrobotic Tech announced that the lunar lander would not make a moon landing. So what went wrong?
They described how the spacecraft suffered ‘critical’ loss from an uncontrollable propellant and fuel leak. “Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the moon,” Astrobotic released on X (formerly known as Twitter). They also shared how Peregrine still has far more fuel than expected: 40 hours worth. This allows Astrobotic to find ways to extend Peregrine’s operational life; but with Peregrine’s solar panels no longer collecting sunlight, power will diminish rapidly.
As time runs out for the US space mission, people continue questioning what is next for lunar lander Peregrine. “At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power,” Astrobotic representatives said.
While Peregrine may have not been successful, it gives the company insight for future projects. “…We continue receiving valuable data and providing spaceflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar lander mission, Griffin,” Astrobotic wrote in an update. Griffin is a larger robotic lander, and, if all goes according to plan, is going to be sent to the moon’s polar region. It is expected to launch towards the moon later this year.
According to Astrobotic, Peregrine is expected to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. On Sunday, January 14th, the lunar lander was about 242,000 miles from Earth, just beyond the moon’s orbit. The aerospace company did not release a definitive date for when Peregrine would enter the atmosphere again, so it could be in a matter of days.
