Tuesday, January 16, 2024

UPDATED
Failed Peregrine lunar lander carrying human remains will crash into Earth by Thursday (Jan. 18)

Harry Baker
Mon, January 15, 2024 

An image showing a disturbance to the Peregrine's Multi-Layer Insulation, the first visual clue pointing to a problem with the propulsion system.

The controversial Peregrine lunar lander, which swiftly failed in its mission to reach the moon after launching last week, will be deliberately crashed into Earth's atmosphere by Thursday (Jan. 18). The doomed spacecraft will most likely burn up in our planet's upper atmosphere without reaching the planet’s surface.

The Peregrine lander was created by the private Pittsburgh-based space company Astrobotic Technology and launched into space on board United Launch Alliances' brand-new Vulcan Centaur rocket, which blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Jan. 8.

Once in space, the lander was supposed to follow a complex orbital trajectory that would slingshot it toward the moon, where it was scheduled to land in late February. If all went to plan, Peregrine would have become the first commercial lander on the moon and the first U.S. spacecraft to reach the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.


The mission was strongly condemned by the Navajo Nation before launch because the lander was carrying payloads from memorial spaceflight companies that contained human remains and DNA. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren wrote in an open letter to NASA that landing human remains on the moon was "tantamount to desecration of this sacred space."

Around six hours after launch, Astrobotic announced that the lander, which had successfully separated from the rocket, had encountered several anomalies, which included a critical propellant leak that essentially left the spacecraft dead in the water (or space). After searching for solutions, the company later admitted that the lander would never reach the lunar surface.

Related: 15 of the weirdest things we have launched into space

The launch sent Astrobotic's Peregrine moon lander toward Earth's nearest neighbor, where it is expected to land on Feb. 23.

On Saturday (Jan. 13), Astrobotic wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the lander is on a collision course with Earth. Subsequent tests revealed that the spacecraft could still be maneuvered slightly, meaning this fate could be avoided. However, after consulting with NASA and the U.S. government, Astrobotic announced on Sunday (Jan. 14) that they would allow Peregrine to crash into Earth's upper atmosphere.

Astrobotic has not revealed exactly when or where the lander will enter Earth's atmosphere but noted the mission will be finished by Thursday.

"We do not believe Peregrine’s re-entry poses safety risks, and the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere," Astrobotic representatives wrote in the statement. In the past, parts of other doomed spacecraft such as defunct return capsules and uncontrollable falling rocket boosters have been known to reach and collide with Earth's surface.

Astrobotic decided to crash the lander to prevent leaving highly disruptive space junk in cislunar space — the space between Earth and the moon's orbit.

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However, the lander's death spiral could still cause some environmental issues. In October last year, scientists revealed that space junk burning up in Earth's atmosphere was causing high levels of metal pollution that are impacting our skies in ways we don't fully understand.

Despite the total and almost immediate failure of the Peregrine's trip to the moon, Astrobotic still considers the mission to be a success, partly because equipment on the lander was still able to collect some data from Earth orbit but mainly because it will help the company avoid similar mistakes in the future.

"This mission has already taught us so much and has given me great confidence that our next mission to the moon will achieve a soft landing [on the moon]," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in the statement.


The first US lunar lander to launch in over 50 years is headed for a fiery end. Here’s what it got done in space

Jackie Wattles, CNN
Mon, January 15, 2024 



The Peregrine spacecraft — which launched last week on the first US mission to aim for a moon landing in over 50 years — is headed back toward Earth and expected to make a fiery reentry after a critical fuel leak dashed its lunar ambitions.

The failed moon landing attempt is a setback for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program, which recruits private companies to help the space agency investigate the lunar surface as it aims to return humans to the moon later this decade.

Astrobotic Technology, the company that developed the Peregrine lander under a $108 million contract with NASA, revealed Sunday that it made the decision to dispose of the spacecraft by allowing it to disintegrate midair while plunging back toward Earth.


“While we believe it is possible for the spacecraft to operate for several more weeks and could potentially have raised the orbit to miss the Earth, we must take into consideration the anomalous state of the propulsion system and utilize the vehicle’s onboard capability to end the mission responsibly and safely,” according to an update posted to the Pittsburgh-based company’s website. “We do not believe Peregrine’s re-entry poses safety risks, and the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.”

The Peregrine vehicle’s impending demise comes after the spacecraft faced challenges while en route to the moon, including an “anomaly” that resulted in its solar-powered battery pointing away from the sun and the fuel leak that left the spacecraft without enough propellant to complete its planned mission to gently touch down on the lunar surface.

It’s not yet clear what caused the leak.

Astrobotic and NASA are expected to give further updates on the mission during a news conference at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday.

“It is a great honor to witness firsthand the heroic efforts of our mission control team overcoming enormous challenges to recover and operate the spacecraft,” said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton in a Sunday statement. “I look forward to sharing these, and more remarkable stories, after the mission concludes on January 18. This mission has already taught us so much and has given me great confidence that our next mission to the Moon will achieve a soft landing.”
Weighing disposal options

Astrobotic did have other options for disposing of the Peregrine lander.

The spacecraft could have been left to the cosmos, destined to spend eternity in the dark expanse. But the company said it decided against that route considering the “risk that our damaged spacecraft could cause a problem.” The Peregrine lander would essentially become a piece of uncontrolled garbage, capable of smashing into other objects in space, such as operational satellites.

The company may have also considered allowing the Peregrine vehicle to crash-land on the moon, as many spacecraft have done — intentionally and unintentionally — on lunar missions of years past.

When it returns to Earth, the vehicle will be obliterated as it smashes into the planet’s thick atmosphere at high speeds. The company said its decision to bring Peregrine back came after receiving “inputs from the space community and the U.S. Government on the most safe and responsible course of action.”
Critical errors

If Peregrine had reached the moon, it might have become the first US spacecraft to land on the lunar surface since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

But the company acknowledged just hours after its spacecraft launched on January 8 that a soft landing on the moon would not be possible.

Astrobotic then switched course — aiming to operate the vehicle as a satellite as its tanks were drained.

Peregrine’s fuel leak slowed in the days following its launch, leaving the spacecraft with the ability to limp along for thousands of miles.

For the vast majority of the mission, the Peregrine lander has been controlled solely by its attitude control thrusters, which are tiny engines mounted to the side of the lander and designed to maintain stability or make precision movements.

At one point, the company said it was able to briefly power on one of the spacecraft’s main engines, which are designed to give up to three bursts of power to push the Peregrine lander farther out toward the moon after reaching space.

But — because of the fuel leak — long, controlled burns of the main engines were impossible, Astrobotic said.

As of Monday, the company said the spacecraft was about 218,000 miles (351,000 kilometers) from Earth.
What Peregrine could and couldn’t accomplish

Astrobotic was able to power on some of the science instruments and other payloads on board the lander.

Two of NASA’s five payloads — the Neutron Spectrometer System and the Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer — were able to gather data on radiation levels in space, the space agency announced in a January 11 news release. While NASA had hoped to take those measurements on the lunar surface — where it’s planning to return astronauts later this decade — space agency officials indicated the data was still valuable.

The Peregrine lander was also able to activate a new sensor, developed by NASA, that was designed to help the spacecraft land on the moon. Called the Navigation Doppler Lidar, it uses lasers and the Doppler effect — which employs wave frequency to measure distance — to make precision navigations.

“Measurements and operations of the NASA-provided science instruments on board will provide valuable experience, technical knowledge, and scientific data to future CLPS lunar deliveries,” said Joel Kearns, the deputy associate administrator for exploration with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, in a statement.

But at least one of NASA’s science instruments — the Laser Retroreflector Array — was not able to function. The LRA is a collection of eight prisms embedded in aluminum that can reflect lasers and relay precise locations. NASA engineers designed the array to become a permanent feature on the moon, helping other spacecraft orient their locations.

Likewise, an array of other payloads designed specifically to operate on the moon remain trapped aboard the Peregrine lander. They include a rover developed at Carnegie Mellon University and five tiny robots from the Mexican Space Agency that were designed to be catapulted onto the lunar surface.

The Peregrine spacecraft is also carrying various mementos, letters and even human remains that customers paid to fly on the mission.

The doomed US moon lander is on a collision course with Earth and will be destroyed to protect other satellites

Marianne Guenot
Mon, January 15, 2024 

Astrobotic will let its lander burn up in the Earth's atmosphere when it comes back to our planet.


The spacecraft's mission to the moon was scuppered shortly after launch due to a fuel leak.


Astrobotic has decided to sacrifice the spacecraft to protect other satellites orbiting the moon.

The doomed US lunar lander is on a collision course with Earth and will be destroyed early to protect other satellites that may get in its way.

"Our latest assessment now shows the spacecraft is on a path towards Earth, where it will likely burn up in Earth's atmosphere," Astrobotic, the company behind the Peregrine lander, said on Saturday.

The Pittsburgh-based company believes the lander could be manoeuvered to avoid falling back to Earth, but has decided that it is too unstable to fly around other spacecraft.

"Ultimately, we must balance our own desire to extend Peregrine's life, operate payloads, and learn more about the spacecraft, with the risk that our damaged spacecraft could cause a problem in cislunar space," Astrobotic said.

Cislunar space is the area around the moon.

Astrobotic launched its Peregrine lunar lander on January 8, prompting hopes it could be the first American spacecraft to make it back to the moon since the Apollo missions more than 50 years ago. It is the first US private lander to launch.

But the NASA-backed mission was brought to a swift end after a fuel leak was discovered on board shortly was sent on its way.

Later investigation suggested this was due to a faulty valve.

A ULA Vulcan rocket launches into space on Monday, carrying the Peregrine Mission One lunar lander.Astrobotic

The team had been rushing to extend the use of the lander's on board propellant in a bid to gather as much information as it could during Peregrine's flight.

With these engineering efforts, Astrobotic extended Peregrine's operational lifespan for more than six days, a marked improvement on the original estimate that predicted it would run out of fuel by Friday 7 a.m.

The company expects the lander could be kept running for another couple of weeks, but after firing the spacecraft's main engine on Saturday, it found that it was too unstable, making long controlled burns impossible.

"While we believe it is possible for the spacecraft to operate for several more weeks and could potentially have raised the orbit to miss the Earth, we must take into consideration the anomalous state of the propulsion system and utilize the vehicle's onboard capability to end the mission responsibly and safely," Astrobotic said.

As part of its flight plan, the probe was expected to travel as high as the moon and then head back to Earth so it could slingshot back to its final destination.


A schematic shows Peregrine's planned trajectory as of Saturday. The Earth is represented by a blue dot.Astrobotic

Astrobotic confirmed on Friday that Peregrine reached lunar distance. But instead of helping the spacecraft steer clear of the Earth's atmosphere when it comes back, it will now let the lander collide with our planet.

The spacecraft is then due to disintegrate as it burns up on reentry. This is standard practice when decommissioning a ship orbiting the Earth and Astrobotic expects this will not pose a safety risk.

The company has not released a date for its spacecraft's re-entry, but it is expected to be within the next couple of days as the mission will be brought to an end on Thursday, Astrobotic CEO John Thornton, said in the press release.

The vehicle was about 234,000 miles away from Earth on Sunday, per Astrobotic.

"I look forward to sharing these, and more remarkable stories, after the mission concludes on January 18. This mission has already taught us so much and has given me great confidence that our next mission to the moon will achieve a soft landing," said Thornton.

The Peregrine lander aboard the Centaur Vulcan rocket ahead of launch.Astrobotic

The lander is carrying 20 payloads from seven countries and 16 companies, including scientific equipment for NASA and human memorial ashes and DNA.

The team managed to switch on all of the payloads that could be activated and even collected some scientific data during its aborted mission.

While this might be the end for Peregrine, NASA still has big plans for the moon.

The agency has commissioned several private firms to attempt to deliver payloads to the moon in uncrewed spacecraft as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Another CLPS mission, operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, is due to launch mid-February.


US company's lunar lander will burn up in Earth's atmosphere after failed moonshot

MARCIA DUNN
Mon, January 15, 2024 




This image provided by Astrobotic Technology shows the wheels of Carnegie Mellon University’s lunar rover on board the Peregrine moon lander. The U.S. company's lunar lander will soon burn up in Earth's atmosphere after a failed moonshot. Astrobotic Technology says its lander is now headed back from the vicinity of the moon. Company officials expect the mission to end Thursday. 
(Astrobotic Technology via AP)


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A U.S. company’s lunar lander will soon burn up in Earth’s atmosphere after a failed moonshot.

Astrobotic Technology said its lander is now headed back toward Earth from the vicinity of the moon. Company officials expect the mission to end Thursday. Astrobotic is working with NASA to track the lander's path and said it should pose no safety risk during its fiery reentry.

The lander, named Peregrine, rocketed from Cape Canaveral last Monday. It quickly developed a fuel leak that forced Astrobotic to abandon its attempt to make the first U.S. lunar landing in more than 50 years. The company suspects a stuck valve caused a tank to rupture.

Astrobotic said it has consulted with NASA and other government officials on how best to end the mission. The company said it does not want to endanger satellites around Earth or create a hazard for future spacecraft flying to the moon.

It was a “difficult decision," the company said in an online update late Sunday. “By responsibly ending Peregrine’s mission, we are doing our part to preserve the future” of space exploration.

NASA paid more than $100 million to fly experiments on the Peregrine lander. It's part of the space agency's bid to commercialize lunar deliveries by private businesses while the government works to get astronauts back to the moon.

The lander also carried a rover from Carnegie Mellon University and other privately sponsored research, as well as the ashes and DNA from about 70 people, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.

Another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, is up next with its own lunar lander due to launch next month.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Peregrine Moon lander to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere ending Astrobotic’s first mission

Emilee Speck
Tue, January 16, 2024 

Astrobotic's Peregrine Moon lander mission will have a fiery finale, burning up in Earth’s atmosphere after the first American Moon landing attempt in decades was thwarted by mechanical issues early in the spaceflight.

The lunar lander launched on ULA’s Vulcan rocket on Jan. 8 beginning the journey to the lunar surface carrying five NASA science instruments and more than a dozen other payloads. Peregrine Mission One was the first mission part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and, if successful, was slated to be the first American commercial landing.

However, mission managers realized Peregrine was in trouble early after the spacecraft separated from the Vulcan rocket. A propulsion system failure was causing the spacecraft to leak fuel, meaning Astrobotic would have to abort its lunar landing attempt.

'NO CHANCE OF' MOON LANDING FOR PEREGRINE LANDER AFTER MISSION-CRITICAL SPACEFLIGHT ISSUES

After reaching Moon distance, about 240,000 miles from Earth, the spacecraft continued on its planned orbit, looping around and heading back toward Earth. If the mission had gone as planned, the lander would have made a soft landing in late February near the Moon's south pole on its second elliptical lunar orbit.

"We remain on our nominal trajectory for the mission, which includes a phasing loop around Earth," Astrobtic said last week. "This loop goes out to lunar distance, swings back around the Earth, and then cruises out to meet the Moon."

The company said after working with NASA and receiving input from the U.S. government and the space industry, it has decided to let the spacecraft burn up during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to avoid creating debris around the moon.

"Ultimately, we must balance our own desire to extend Peregrine’s life, operate payloads, and learn more about the spacecraft, with the risk that our damaged spacecraft could cause a problem in cislunar space," Astrobotic said, referring to the area between the Earth and the Moon. "As such, we have made the difficult decision to maintain the current spacecraft’s trajectory to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. By responsibly ending Peregrine’s mission, we are doing our part to preserve the future of cislunar space for all."

The current timeline puts Peregrine within Earth's atmosphere on Thursday.

The company said the spacecraft continues to operate and remains stable more than a week into its spaceflight. Peregrine has been able to provide power to payloads that require it and send back photos from deep space.

"I am so proud of what our team has accomplished with this mission. It is a great honor to witness firsthand the heroic efforts of our mission control team overcoming enormous challenges to recover and operate the spacecraft after Monday’s propulsion anomaly," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement. "I look forward to sharing these, and more remarkable stories, after the mission concludes on January 18. This mission has already taught us so much and has given me great confidence that our next mission to the Moon will achieve a soft landing."

Astrobotic said the working theory is that a faulty valve caused the oxidizer tank to pressurize beyond its limits, causing it to rupture and leading to a failure of the spacecraft propulsion system. The spacecraft team continues investigating how the mission went awry as data is sent to Earth via NASA's Deep Space Network.

NASA leaders have said they know some of the commercial missions under the CLPS program will fail. Just over half of all lunar landing attempts have been successful. Only four countries have successfully landed on the Moon, including the U.S., and no private company has yet to do so.

Intuitive Machines, another U.S. space company, will attempt a Moon landing as part of NASA's CLPS Initiative in February.

Peregrine moon lander and its cargo will likely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere

Astrobotic says the doomed lander made it to lunar distance, but is heading back toward Earth.


Cheyenne MacDonald
·Weekend Editor
Sun, January 14, 2024

Astrobotic


It looks like the Peregrine lunar lander’s final resting place will be back at home where it started. The doomed spacecraft, which experienced an anomaly shortly after launch and has been leaking propellant ever since, is expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, Astrobotic wrote in an update on X this weekend. The company plans to host a press conference with NASA on Thursday January 18 at 12PM ET to discuss the lander’s fate.

Peregrine has so far hung on much longer than anyone thought it would after the leak was first detected on January 8, and Astrobotic has been posting round-the-clock status updates. The company days ago ruled out a soft landing on the moon’s surface, but there’s been some uncertainty about where exactly it’ll end up. Peregrine did manage to make it to lunar distance — reaching 238,000 miles from Earth on Friday and then 242,000 as of Saturday — but because of where the moon currently is in its orbit, nothing was there to meet it.



If all had gone according to plan, Peregrine would have met up with the moon about 15 days after launch, at which point it could begin the transition from Earth orbit to lunar orbit. It’s only been six days, and Peregrine’s dwindling fuel supply isn’t likely to carry it for nine more. “Our analysis efforts have been challenging due to the propellant leak, which have been adding uncertainty to predictions of the vehicle’s trajectory,” Astrobotic wrote in its most recent update on Saturday. “Our latest assessment now shows the spacecraft is on a path towards Earth, where it will likely burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.”

It was always a known risk that Peregrine Mission One might end this way; moon landings are notoriously hard. The commercial mission marked the first of those contracted under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, and in a briefing ahead of last week’s launch, NASA’s CLPS Program Manager Chris Culbert said, “We recognize that success cannot be ensured.”

Doomed US Moon lander on collision course with Earth

Vishwam Sankaran
Sun, January 14, 2024

Doomed US Moon lander on collision course with Earth


A US spacecraft involved in the first American attempt to land on the Moon in more than 50 years is headed back down to Earth, its maker said.

The private mission by Pittsburgh-based space company Astrobotic, dubbed Peregrine Mission One, set off from Earth last Monday and was schedueld to land on the lunar surface on 23 February.

But a fuel leak sealed its fate, and about 30 hours after launch the company admitted the spacecraft had “no chance” of achieving a soft landing on the Moon.

In its latest update on the spacecraft, the firm said it was “on a path towards Earth” and that it would “likely” burn up on re-entry.

“Our latest assessment now shows the spacecraft is on a path towards Earth, where it will likely burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Astrobotic posted on X, without sharing much information on when the re-entry is expected to happen.

“We have been evaluating how best to safely end the spacecraft’s mission to protect satellites in Earth orbit as well as ensure we do not create debris in cislunar space,” the company said in a blog post on Monday.
The Peregrine spacecraft – the first ever private US Moon lander mission – has been in space for over six days and continues to leak propellant, according to Astrobotic, which said its teams were “working tirelessly” to stabilise the vehicle.

After the probe was hit by an “anomaly” which caused the fuel leak, the company’s engineers oriented the spacecraft towards the Sun so that its solar panel could absorb sunlight and charge its battery.

The spacecraft, now about 376,600 km (234,000 miles) away, will soon re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, the company said, adding that it is working with Nasa and the US government to evaluate the vehicle’s controlled re-entry path.

“We do not believe Peregrine’s re-entry poses safety risks, and the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,” the firm said in a blog post.

“We will continue to operate the spacecraft and provide status updates through the end of the mission,” it said.

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