Astrobotic Technology?s Peregrine lunar lander was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral aboard an ULA rocket developed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing at 2:18 am ET Monday morning, but was cancelled just hours after launch.
Peregrine’s Sun-facing orientation is unstable
The issue with the lander stems from an unknown propulsion anomaly; though still functional, its ability to point its solar array toward the Sun and keep its batteries charged remains compromised.
NASA’s Vulcan rocket launched from Cape Canaveral on Monday carrying Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander as part of their multibillion-dollar moon program, with plans for astronaut missions later in this decade.
Astrobotic, along with Houston-based Intuitive Machines, are two private U.S. companies competing to be first to reach the moon. On February 15th Intuitive will launch its lander carrying NASA payloads through SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. If successful, both companies could help NASA deliver research missions to lunar surface while also helping prepare future crew missions – creating enormous benefits to our nation’s space economy as well as increasing ambitions to return humans to moon.
Peregrine lunar lander’s battery is low
Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander experienced an anomaly hours after launch that prevented it from properly aligning to the sun and charging its battery, according to reports out of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology.
Astrobotic’s lunar landing, scheduled for February, could be in jeopardy as its propulsion system remains unstable; they are currently working to restore it but that may not be sufficient to return their craft back into a safe position.
Peregrine successfully separated from the Centaur upper stage of United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket shortly after 8 a.m. ET this morning and communications were quickly restored shortly thereafter. She carried a variety of payloads, including five science instruments from NASA as well as 15 commercial payloads from various organizations and countries – as well as mementos from Navajo Nation memorabilia and two services that provide human “cremains”.
Peregrine’s solar array is pointing away from the Sun
Peregrine quickly encountered problems with its propulsion system shortly after launch, losing propellant at an alarmingly rapid rate, making touchdown unlikely.
Engineers attempted to offset this loss of propellant by performing an “improvised maneuver” to reorient its solar array toward the Sun for power production, but that failed as well; Peregrine kept losing propellant.
Astrobotic of Pittsburgh built Peregrine as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and had planned for it to arrive near Gruithuisen Domes for landing near February. Unfortunately, due to propellant loss it appears likely that Peregrine will no longer make this journey and its mission could likely fail altogether – an unfortunate setback not only for Astrobotic but also the various countries and institutions who had payloads aboard: they would no longer have been able to test out lunar landing maneuvers without Peregrine making its planned journey.
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