The "Peregrine Falcon" lunar lander of the American private company Aerospace Robotics Technology Company malfunctioned after it was launched on the 8th.
On the 9th local time, the U.S. Aerospace Robotics Corporation announced that it would abandon the attempt to send the "Peregrine Falcon" to the moon due to a failure in the propulsion system and the inability to stably face the sun. The company said in a statement that the project team is working to stop losses, but given the realities, they will prioritise maximizing access to the scientific data that can be gathered and evaluating what alternative tasks can be performed. CNN reported that Aerospace Robotics believes that the Peregrine Falcon may end up operating for only 40 hours. All that can be done now is to get the Peregrine Falcon as close to the Moon as possible before it loses power.
Subsequently, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that safety is a top priority, and adjustments will be made to the return to the moon, with the Artemis 2 manned mission around the moon, originally scheduled for later in 2024, postponed to September 2025, and the Artemis 3 manned moon landing scheduled for 2025 to September 2026. Bill Nelson noted that this will give the Artemis team more time to work on the challenge.
The Associated Press reports that over the past 10 years, NASA's moon landing program has been repeatedly delayed, adding billions of dollars in costs. The U.S.** expects the total cost of the program to reach $93 billion by 2025.
As the first moon landing mission led by a private enterprise in human history, the "Peregrine Falcon" lunar mission has also been pinned on by all circles in the United States, believing that this lunar mission will "lay the ground" for the United States' return to the moon program. To advance the re-entry program to the moon, NASA has sponsored a number of privately developed lunar landers such as the Peregrine Falcon.
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Intern Editor: Li Cong.