MOSCOW , Jan 9The Peregrine module will definitely not be able to land on the Moon, but its developers will most likely try to bring the device as close as possible to the Earth’s satellite in order to conduct scientific research, said Ilya Ovchinnikov, a spacecraft specialist, a popularizer of astronautics, and head of a department at the Education of the Future company.
Astrobotic previously reported that the Peregrine lunar lander, launched on Monday morning from Cape Canaveral in the United States, is losing a critical amount of fuel due to a problem with the propulsion system. A photo taken with a Peregrine outdoor camera shows damage to the multi-layer insulation. Astrobotic hopes that, with the help of auxiliary engines, the device will be able to maintain another 40 hours in a stable position with orientation towards the Sun.
“Now the task is to fly as close to the Moon as possible and assemble a scientific program with the means, with the sensors that they have. Landing is definitely out of the question, because they have already used up the maximum amount of fuel when they tried to build the orientation,” – Ovchinnikov said.
He clarified that after the operation of the upper stage, the landing module was placed on a flight path to the Moon. To enter lunar orbit, the device will need to slow down at the Earth's natural satellite. The expert suggested that now the developers will try to do this using the remaining fuel.
“Most likely, the development team is trying to somehow catch hold of the remaining fuel in lunar orbit. They have masses on board.” spectrometers and detectors that can measure the same exosphere at a certain distance,” the interlocutor added.
On board the module built under a contract with NASA, it was planned to deliver five scientific instruments, capsules with human ashes, a stone from Everest, and other cargo from a number of the mission's international partners. The carrying capacity of the lander, which is being created for NASA's Artemis lunar program, is 90 kilograms./Dynamics of the day
The Peregrine module will definitely not land on the Moon, but perhaps it will conduct scientific research from its orbit – expert
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