The U.S.’s first moon landing attempt in over 50 years is possibly at risk hours after it launched Monday, after the private firm that designed the lander announced a failure in its propulsion system.
The brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur, lifts off from Space Launch ... [+]
The Peregrine 1 moon lander, designed by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, is carrying six NASA payloads—or cargo—to explore the moon’s surface, and is attempting to land on the near side of the moon in an area called the “Bay of Stickiness.”
In its latest update on the mission, Astrobotic said a failure in the lander’s propulsion system—the machine responsible for pushing the lander forward—”is causing a critical loss of propellant,” which is the material that comes out of the lander to push it forward.
Astrobotic said its team is trying to stabilize the loss of propellant, but has “prioritized maximizing the science and data” it can gather, while assessing possible alternatives for the mission.
In its first update after the launch, which took place after 2 a.m. ET, Astrobotic announced that it was unable to stabilize the lander into a sun-pointing position to collect sunlight, draining the battery, and said a likely cause was a “propulsion anomaly that, if proven true, threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the Moon.”
Astrobotic also lost communications with the lander at one point, but announced it was able to re-establish communications and reorient the lander towards the sun to charge its battery, while evaluating the failure in the propulsion system.
Peregrine 1 was carried into space by Vulcan, a new rocket designed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance, early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral. The lander is carrying NASA’s payload, which the agency paid Astrobotic $108 million to carry, and other cargo from U.S. and foreign private entities. It is flying around the Earth’s orbit, and is expected to land on the moon around February 23 if the mission is still successful. The last U.S. moon mission was the Apollo 17 moonshot in 1972.
Vulcan Rocket Launches Peregrine 1 In First U.S. Attempt To Land On The Moon In Over 50 Years (Forbes)