2024-01-09 08:28:06
Updated Tuesday, January 9, 2024 – 07:28
The module had a 46-day journey ahead to reach the lunar surface and become the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972.
The Peregrine module taking off from Cape Caaveral.CHANDAN KHANNAAFPESpace The Peregrine module sent to the Moon aboard a new American rocket suffers a serious technical problem
The Peregrine module, which left this Monday at Luna After more than fifty years since the last US moon landing, it only has 40 hours of fuel, which will not allow it to reach its planned destination for February 23, according to the company. Astrobotic.
The Peregrine Mission One (PM1) was successfully launched this morning on the new and powerful cohete Vulcan Centaur de United Launch Alliance (ULA) from the Cape Caaveral Space Force Station in Florida but within a few hours it began to lose power.
Although the engineers had managed to reorient the module panels towards the Sun for their energy supply and had recovered communication with the ship, they evidenced a “a critical loss of fuel”Astrobotic noted in an update on the mission.
“If the thrusters can continue to operate, we believe the spacecraft could continue in a stable state of orientation for approximately 40 more hours based on current fuel consumption,” the company said based on Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania).
Given the new panorama, Astrobotic said that now the objective is to get the Peregrine module “as close as possible” to the Moon before it loses power.
The module had a 46-day journey ahead of it to reach the lunar surface and become the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972.
Peregrine transports scientific instruments of the NASA as part of its Commercial Lunar Cargo Services (CLPS) initiative which aims to study the lunar exosphere (the outer layer), the thermal properties of the lunar regolith (the layer of unconsolidated materials that rest on solid rock), the abundance of hydrogen in the soil of the landing site and the monitoring of the radiation environment.
The research missions, one of them Mexican, will also help to better understand planetary processes and evolution, seek evidence of the existence of water and other resources, and support long-term sustainable human exploration.
In this sense, NASA assured this Monday that, despite the “setback” of the lunar module, it has “more tools to explore space.”
NASA Administrator Bill Nelsonhighlighted today’s “success” of the new Vulcan Centaur rocket on social networks.
He added that Astrobotic “is moving forward” for deliveries as part of the CLPS initiative and the Artemis return to the Moon program.
Astrobotic is also working with NASA “to determine the impact of the agency’s five scientific investigations aboard the Peregrine spacecraft.”
The Peregrine module also carried a rock fragment from Mount Everestand the ashes and DNA of space enthusiasts like the creator of ‘Star Trek’, Gene Roddenberry.
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