Revived at 20.30 | Communication with the probe is functional again. The solar panels have been turned towards the Sun and the batteries are being charged. In the control center, they analyze the causes of the malfunction.
Revived at 19.00 | Astrobotics has confirmed that Peregrine suffers from an anomaly that prevents it from pointing its solar panels directly at the Sun. This means a lack of energy and endangering the entire mission. Engineers are working on the problem and the company promised to inform about the further progress of the operation.
Today in the early hours of our time, the new Vulcan rocket launched successfully, carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander into space.
The rocket in question was built by United Launch Alliance, which means it is a purely private mission. On board the Peregrine, in addition to scientific instruments, there are also various curiosities: for example, a piece of Mount Everest, a physical bitcoin or part of the creator’s remains Star Trek Gene Roddenberry.
You can watch the start recording here:
Not long after launch, Astrobotic confirmed that the lander is still working as expected and communicating with the ground center. If it can successfully reach its destination, it will be the “first commercial robotic launch to the surface of the moon,” according to NASA.
Recall that the Vulcan rocket has been under development since 2014 and this is its first flight. It was originally supposed to take place in 2019, but had to be postponed.
In this particular case, it was equipped with two solid propellant boosters, however, its authors designed it as scalable – which means that it can theoretically be equipped with up to six boosters (depending on the required payload).
2024-01-08 14:46:15
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