Text | britney nguyen
The first U.S. attempt to land on the moon in more than 50 years could have been thwarted hours after Monday's launch after the company that designed the lander announced that its propulsion system had failed.
Key facts
Designed by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, Peregrine 1 carried six NASA payloads to explore the lunar surface and attempt to land in an area near the moon known as the Bay of Stickiness.
In its latest mission update, Astrobotic said that a failure in the lander's propulsion system, the machine responsible for propelling the lander forward, had "led to a significant loss of propellant," which is the material ejected from the lander to propel the lander forward.
Astrobotic said its team is working to stabilize the loss of propellant, but"Prioritize maximizing the collection of science and data", a possible alternative to the same assessment task.
The first post-launch update came just after 2 a.m. ET, when Astrobotic announced that it was unable to stabilize the lander at a position pointing at the sun to collect sunlight, causing the battery to run out, and said that a possible cause was "an anomaly in the propulsion system that, if proven true, would threaten the spacecraft's ability to make a soft landing on the moon." ”
Astrobotic also lost communication with the lander at one point, but the company announced that while assessing the propulsion system failure, it was able to re-establish communication and reorient the lander so that it faces the sun to recharge the batteries.
In its latest statement, Aerospace Robotics added that the thrusters will only be able to operate for a maximum of 40 hours. CNN notes that this means that the moon landing scheduled for February 23 may no longer be possible.
Currently, another company from Houston plans to launch a second lander in February. NASA has provided millions of dollars each to the companies involved to build and operate their own lunar landers.
Key Context
Peregrine 1, a new Vulcan rocket designed by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin Joint Launch Alliance, was launched from Cape Canaveral in the early hours of Monday. The lander carried NASA's payload, as well as other cargo from U.S. and foreign private entities;It is reported that NASA paid Astrobotic $1 for the launch$0.8 billion in fees. The vehicle is currently in orbit around the Earth and is expected to land on the moon around February 23 if the mission remains successful. The last U.S. mission to the moon was the Apollo 17 moon landing program in 1972.