Here’s a final update to that Astrobotic Peregrine failed lunar lander mission: The spacecraft is heading back towards Earth today. #space#science#astrobotic#moon#womeninstem
Please enjoy the cursed thumbnail image of my mouth.
" ..operational in space for more than 4 days. The spacecraft remains stable and operational, and is currently in a planned loss-of-signal period for about another hour and a half. The leak rate on Peregrine has continued to slow, and the spacecraft is estimated to now have 52 hours of propellant remaining."
The remains of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, "Star Trek" actor James Doohan, and a bunch of other dead people are floating in space after Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander failed to land on the moon.
".. hypothesis about .. anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization. .. led to a rush of high pressure helium that spiked .. pressure in .. oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit .. ruptured the tank.
.. no indication that .. anomaly occurred as a result of the launch."
Frequent updates without the "successful failure" BS that SpaceX use to make their failures appear as great successes, seems to be gathering public sympathy for #Astrobotic in their misfortune with #Peregrine.
However, important facts about the root cause of the failure, i.e. design, assembly and/or testing flaws, are not yet known or made public, AFAIK.
Cheaper missions run by private companies is OK, but that usually means taking more risks and cutting corners.
🚀 Der DLR Strahlungsdetektor M-42 ist heute an Bord einer United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan-Rakete zum Mond gestartet. 🌖 Geplant ist, dass der Strahlungsdetektor M-42 Werte direkt auf Mondoberfläche misst und zur Erde sendet. Der Lander der #Peregrine Mission One von des US-Raumfahrtunternehmens Astrobotic Technology soll am 23. Februar 2024 in einer geologisch interessanten Region an den Gruithuisen-Vulkankuppeln im Nordwesten der Mondvorderseite aufsetzen. 🌕🔍
+++ UPDATE 09.01.2024 +++
Einige Stunden nach dem Start berichtete #astrobotic von einer Anomalie im Zusammenhang mit dem Antriebssystem. Weitere Entwicklungen kommuniziert das US-Raumfahrtunternehmen u.a. auf seinen Social-Media-Kanälen und der Webseite http://astrobotic.com. #Peregrine
#Astrobotic#Peregrine update 17 While we believe it is possible for the #spacecraft to operate for several more weeks and could potentially have raised the orbit to miss the Earth, we must take into consideration the anomalous state of the propulsion system and utilize the vehicle’s onboard capability to end the mission responsibly and safely.
Peregrine will soon return and burn up 🔥 in Earth’s #atmosphere. https://www.astrobotic.com/update-17-for-peregrine-mission-one/
Peregrine remains operational at about 238,000 miles from Earth, which means that we have reached lunar distance! As we posted in Update #10, the Moon is not where the spacecraft is now (see graphic). Our original trajectory had us arriving at the Moon on day 15 post launch. Our propellant estimates currently have us running out of fuel before this 15-day mark — however, our engineers are still optimistic about extending Peregrine's life expectancy. On Thursday, January 18, 2024, at NOON ET, Astrobotic is hosting a teleconference with NASA for major mission updates and will be streamed on select NASA channels. With Peregrine operating in a stable configuration and a teleconference imminent, we will post an update tomorrow, but will be slowing down our update cadence for now. Thank you again for the words of support we've received for our team.