Fuel leak disrupted plans for the first US lunar lander in half a century
The first lunar lander in half a century launched from the USA has “no chance” of successfully landing on the lunar surface due to a fuel leak, its operators announced, adding that their goal was now to send the ship as far as possible before the power goes out.
Peregrine 1, which was supposed to be the first commercial space probe to make a soft landing on the Moon, suffered a “critical loss of fuel” hours after liftoff on Monday due to an “anomaly” in the propulsion system, according to statements from Astrobotic, a US company. behind the project.
According to The Guardian, after initial fears that the spacecraft would not be able to orient itself towards the Sun to charge its batteries, the Astrobotic team announced that it had successfully completed an “impromptu maneuver” and solar the battery is working.
However, in a later statement, the Pittsburgh-based company said its engines “will likely be able to operate for another 40 hours at most.” It added: “The goal for now is to get the Peregrine Falcon (as translated by Peregrine, another translation is “wanderer”) as close to the Moon as possible before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-facing position. and subsequently lose power.”
In its latest update, published on Tuesday, the company confirmed that the spacecraft “unfortunately did not have a chance of a soft landing on the Moon.” The updated mission was to collect data from Peregrine 1 that could be useful for a future lunar landing, Astrobotic added.
The lander, carrying Nas' scientific equipment, was launched on a Vulcan Centaur rocket from the Cape Canaveral, marking the first use of the powerful new rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed.
Peregrine was scheduled to land on the moon on February 23, when it would begin collecting data on the lunar surface to aid research for planned future human missions.
On board are instruments that can measure radiation levels, surface and subsurface water ice, a magnetic field, and an extremely thin layer of gas called the exosphere. Also on board are five small lunar rovers, each weighing less than 60 g and measuring 12 cm in diameter.
The lander also contains non-scientific payload, including DNA from former US presidents including George Washington, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower, which may now remain in space. Also on board are the ashes of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek”, as well as the ashes of former stars of the television series.
Responding to reports of lander malfunction, NASA said it is working with Astrobotic to identify the root cause of the engine problem. adding: “Space is hard.”
Later on Tuesday, NASA added further delays to its Artemis lunar program, scheduling the first astronaut landing on the moon in 50 years for 2026, while spacecraft from SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and other contractors are facing development challenges.
The US space agency did not provide contextual details regarding the Peregrine 1 news.
Artemis 3, the first moon landing with crewed program using SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is now scheduled for September 2026, previously planned for late 2025, NASA said.
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