According to Monday declaration the company’s experts are now trying to reassess the mission’s goals.
Roughly seven hours after Monday’s launch, problems appeared with the orientation of the solar panel, which produces energy for the module’s systems. Failed to maintain proper orientation to the Sun.
The technicians then managed to straighten the device and recharge the batteries, but subsequently the AT company announced a loss of fuel and a failure of the drive systems. This, according to the team, apparently led to an anomaly that caused problems with the solar panel.
The Peregrine module launched to the moon, the Navaho tribe doesn’t like it
“The team is trying to stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we prioritized maximizing the science and data we can get. We are currently evaluating what alternative mission profiles are feasible,” the company said.
The Peregrine lunar module was launched into space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 8 by a Vulcan Centaur rocket of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The nearly two-meter body of the module houses 20 research “packages” from seven countries, as well as a shoebox-sized lunar rover from the private Carnegie Mellon University.
Photo: AFP PHOTO / ASTROBOTIC, Profimedia.cz
The first image of a part of itself that the Peregrine lander sent from space to Earth
On board, in addition to a number of scientific equipment, are the cargoes of the Celestis and Elysium Space companies, which specialize in sending cremated human remains into space: this mission involves symbolic elements of DNA or the ashes of several dozen people, including the creator of the space cult series Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry , science fiction writer, pioneer and author of the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke or the trio of former US presidents George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
The plan to transport cremated human remains to the moon has sparked outrage among the Navajo Native Americans, who consider it a desecration of a sacred site.
However, the largest client of this commercial mission is the American space agency NASA. He ordered the transport of scientific instruments to the lunar surface from the private company Astrobotic Technology.
Landing on the lunar surface “out of the game”?
The landing on the moon, which was planned as part of the mission on February 23, is now apparently doomed, according to the AP agency.
The Japanese module is in lunar orbit, due to land in January
According to experts, the situation with the Peregrine lander is not rosy. Astrobotic also confirms the ongoing leakage of propellants on the morning of Tuesday, January 9, our time.
“Either way, there will be a fight for every hour of operation, but landing on the lunar surface is already out of the question,” noted cosmonautics specialist Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Agency and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague on the X network.
The situation with the Peregrine lander is not rosy. Astrobotic confirms ongoing propellant leak. Even so, every hour of operation will be fought for, but landing on the lunar surface is already out of the question. https://t.co/aCKxAhYgPQ
— Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) January 9, 2024
However, even if a miracle were to happen and the landing of the module would take place on February 23 as planned, even then AT might not achieve the first place among private companies (regarding the landing on the moon), because in the meantime the module of the American company Intuitive Machines will also launch with the rocket from SpaceX, which it will take a shorter route to our natural satellite, so it is possible that it will land earlier.
India’s space observatory has arrived at the site from which it is supposed to observe the Sun
2024-01-09 07:46:49
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