The US lunar mission has major problems after launch
Just hours into the historic mission of Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander, the company announced that the spacecraft had engine problems. The news, which aims to become the first commercial company to place a spacecraft on the Moon, is a blow to everyone following the mission closely. As reported on the X account and on the company website, Astrobotic is working hard to resolve the problem and restart the mission.
Update #5 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/94wy2J0GyA
— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 8, 2024
A mission with immediate problems
“Unfortunately it appears that the propulsion system failure is causing a critical loss of propellant. The team is working to try to stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can acquire. We are evaluating what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time,” Astrobotic explained in its fourth mission update on its website.
Launched on January 8, 2024 from the Cape Canaveral Space Station, the launch marks the start of the month-and-a-half journey planned for the first commercial lunar lander. The Peregrine lander was scheduled to launch 20 payloads, including five from NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The lander will carry several payloads, including artwork, historical artifacts, rover demonstrations, and missions to search for water ice near the lunar surface.
Astrobotic's Peregrine is being prepared for launch
“We have received the first image of Peregrine in space! The camera used is mounted on top of the payload deck and shows the Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) in the foreground. The presence of the MLI is the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data indicating a propulsion system anomaly,” Astrobotic explained in the fifth update .
“However, the spacecraft battery is now fully charged and we are using Peregrine's existing power to perform as many payload and spacecraft operations as possible,” Astrobotic added. “At this time, the majority of the Peregrine mission team has been active and working diligently for more than 24 hours. We ask that you please be patient as we re-evaluate the incoming data so that we can provide you with ongoing updates throughout the evening,” Astrobotic said.
The engine problems come after several other initial problems encountered by the spacecraft in space. Prior to this, Astrobotic announced that it had experienced communication problems with Peregrine shortly after launch from United Launch Allinace's Vulcan carrier rocket. The problem occurred while the Astrobotic team was trying to orient the spacecraft's solar panels towards the Sun, while Vulcan, a new space launcher, worked just fine.
“Shortly before entering a known period of communications loss, the team developed and executed an improvised maneuver to reorient the solar panels toward the Sun. Shortly after this maneuver, the spacecraft entered a predicted period of communications loss.” , Astrobotic explained in its second mission update. Luckily, as mission update 3 explains, the issue was fixed shortly after.
A mission that started badly
The reason for the propulsion system "anomaly" has not yet been ascertained, but Astrobotic has released some clues that could help solve it. Astrobotic's Peregrine would be the first US lander on the moon after a 50-year absence of such missions.
Peregrine was supposed to be a sort of generic space probe that could be used for different types of cargo untile. On this first mission he carried two small rovers, one designed by students from a US school and one from Mexico, a series of scientific instruments and also memory capsules from different countries. At this point it is not certain that this mission will be able to reach the Moon,
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The articleUS lunar mission has big problems after launch comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-missione-lunare-usa-ha-dei-grossi-problemi-dopo-il-lancio/ on Tue, 09 Jan 2024 21:53:17 +0000.