by After successful launched early Mondayengineers checking out the marine robotic lunar lander had problems keeping the spacecraft properly oriented, an issue that could have plagued the first US lunar lander since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago.
I brief statementspacecraft builder Astrobotic said initial checkout and activation of the Peregrine system went well after separation from United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket.
“Astronomical avionics systems, including the primary command and data handling unit, as well as the thermal, propulsion and power controllers, all powering up and performing as expected,” reported the company based in Pittsburgh.
“Unfortunately, an anomaly occurred, which prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable solar orientation. The team is responding in real time as the situation develops and will provide updates as the data is received and analyzed.”
In the second update, the said company The engineers believe that the likely cause of the sunspot issue is “a propulsion anomaly that, if proven true, jeopardizes the spacecraft’s ability to make a soft landing on the moon.”
In addition, Astrobotic said, “the spacecraft battery is reaching low operating levels.” Commands were sent to reorient the Hawk to improve solar power generation, but the spacecraft then entered a region of its orbit where communications were disrupted. After reestablishing contact, engineers confirmed that the spacecraft’s solar arrays were pointed toward the sun and were helping to charge onboard batteries.
“It appears that the failure within the drive system has caused a critical loss of drive. The team is working to try to stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing a doing the science and the data we can capture. We are evaluating what alternative mission profiles might be possible at this time,” the company said.
The Peregrine Lander is the first American spacecraft to touch the lunar surface in more than 50 years and only the third to be developed as a non-governmental commercial enterprise. Two previous commercial attempts, one launched by an Israeli group and the other by a Japanese company, landed in 2019 and 2023 respectively.
“Flying to the lunar surface and operating lunar missions is a very challenging business,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said before the launch. “Only about half of those missions have been successful, and most of those have been funded by superpowers. … So that’s a really big challenge, and we recognize that.
“In case we have a bad day somewhere along the mission, we’re going to collect all the data we’ve got up to that point, and we’re going to learn from it … to get smarter and we’re going to be ready for the first one other.”
Conduct science experiments, time capsules, and human “creams”.
The Falcon is the first in a series of private sector lunar missions funded under a NASA program — the Commercial Lunar Payload Services or CLPS program — intended to encourage lunar transportation and surface delivery services for hire.
NASA paid Astrobotic $108 million to deliver five sophisticated science instruments and a navigation sensor to the moon.
There are twenty experiments and payloads on board, from research instruments to artwork, a time capsule, a slice of Mount Everest and even human “creams” from two companies that decide to send small portions of a loved one’s ashes into space.
The Falcon entered Earth’s elliptical orbit early Monday in the maiden flight of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket. ULA plans to replace its workhorse Atlas 5 and Delta 4 boosters with a more powerful and cheaper Vulcan.
Monday’s launch at 2:18 am EST went off without a hitch and Peregrine was released to fly solo about 50 minutes later. A few minutes later, Astrobotic reported engineers receiving telemetry from the lander, indicating that the spacecraft had come through the launch in good shape.
The flight plan calls for the Falcon to remain in its highly elliptical Earth orbit for an initial check-out and tests before firing its own thrusters to head for the moon. The launch was in time to establish a daylight landing near a volcanic feature known as the Gruithuisen Domes on 23 February.
Meet Taylor Tomlinson, the newest host of late night comedy
How artificial intelligence is transforming customer call centers
‘Must be prepared’ to defeat Trump at the ballot box despite Supreme Court case, says Liz Cheney
