An American spacecraft, which was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday (Jan 8) with an aim to perform a controlled landing on the Moon, has suffered a technical issue. The historic private mission is now facing a near-certain failure as it suffered a “critical loss” of fuel.
The snag emerged as a major blow to the hopes of the United States as it wanted to place its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades.
The Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander was fixed to the top of United Launch Alliance’s brand new Vulcan rocket, which was making its debut flight.
It was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and successfully detached from its launch vehicle.
A few hours later, Astrobotic began reporting technical issues, beginning with Peregrine’s inability to align its top-mounted solar panel with the Sun and keep its onboard battery charged due to a propulsion system malfunction.
Astrobotic, the company behind the mission, confirmed a few hours after the launch that its aircraft experienced an “anomaly” that stopped it from pointing its solar panels stably at the Sun.
In a press release, Astrobotic said, “After successfully separating from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander began receiving telemetry via the NASA Deep Space Network.”
“Astrobotic-built avionics systems, including the primary command and data handling unit, as well as the thermal, propulsion, and power controllers, all powered on and performed as expected. After successful propulsion systems activation, Peregrine entered a safe operational state,” it added.
“Unfortunately, an anomaly then occurred, which prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation,” it further said. The company said that the team is responding in real-time as the situation unfolds and they will also provide updates as more data is obtained and analysed.
Though engineers were able to tilt the spacecraft in the correct direction using an “improvised maneuver,” the company later announced on X that the same propulsion malfunction appeared to be the source of a “critical loss of propellant”.
Astrobotic said: “We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.” The statement was an apparent admission that the Peregrine would not achieve a controlled touchdown on the Moon as planned.
What was the aim of the mission?
Peregrine was supposed to reach the Moon, and then maintain an orbit for several weeks before landing in a mid-latitude region called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on February 23.
A soft landing on Moon has thus far only been accomplished by a handful of national space agencies: the Soviet Union was first, in 1966, followed by the US. China has successfully landed three times over the past decade, while India was the most recent to achieve the feat, on its second attempt last year. India scripted history by becoming the first nation to land on the dark side of the Moon.
The US is still the only country to put people on the Moon.
(With inputs from agencies)
