Posted on 01/09/2024 6:12:51 PM PST by Red Badger
Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The company that had hoped to be the first private one to put a lunar lander on the moon now is looking ahead to its next space mission after confirming the failure of its Peregrine spacecraft on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic's Peregrine -- the first American spacecraft bound for the surface of the moon in more than 50 years -- launched flawlessly early Monday morning but experienced an "anomaly" shortly after it deployed from its launch rocket. The craft then quickly experienced a "critical loss of propellant."
On Tuesday, the company said the craft had been operational for nearly 40 hours. It said overnight that the mission had faced directional problems, but the spacecraft is in a "translunar trajectory."
Astrobotic said the spacecraft began to tilt away from the sun, reducing solar power. The spacecraft's team was able to address that problem, and the craft's batteries were fully charged. But, because of the propellent leak, there is no chance of a soft landing on the moon's surface.
On Tuesday, the company hypothesized a "working theory" that the anomaly was caused by a valve that failed to reseal after being used. That resulted in high-pressure helium pushing the pressure in an oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit, the company surmised while saying a more detailed analysis will come later.
Despite the mission failure, enough propellant remains for the vehicle to continue to operate, which the company said was an improvement from analyses the night before.
The Astrobotic team -- which said it was in a "stable operating mode and ... working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts" -- also is working to find ways to possibly extend Peregrine's operational life.
"We continue receiving valuable data and providing spacecraft operations for components and software relating to our next lander mission, Griffin," Astrobotic said on X.
Ping!.....................
Maybe they can get SpaceX to launch a Cybertruck to tow it to the moon.
The Soviets tried to crash the first probe into the moon. It missed. It became the first man made object to go into an interplanetary orbit. They renamed the probe to Mechta ( Мечта ) or The Dream.
I said yesterday that they could park it in orbit around either the Earth or Moon and retrieve it at a later date...............
p
the anomaly was caused by a valve that failed to reseal after being used
Dang, rocket science is hard.
Oh, it’ll land alright.
Just very, very quickly.
CC
Werner Von Braun said getting to the moon and back would require a space station with additional fuel after launch into orbit
“ Just very, very quickly.”
Don’t know if it will land quickly but it will come to a stop very quickly.
Not so much Elon but your favorite Russians who are laughing.
The problem isn’t getting to the moon; it’s already on a translunar path. The problem is slowing down in order to land. That requires fuel. But I wonder if it has enough fuel for orbital insertion instead. Otherwise it will just fly by and wander.
You are confusing my Don't Care Russians with my Unfavorite Uke Nazis and Zeepers, who SHOULD be on their way to the moon.
Once again betting on DEI, Diversity, and Inclusiveness...
They think a valve failed to fully close.
They should stop buying Chinese valves......................
SpaceX will send humans around the Moon before NASA gets a new probe to the surface, and for that matter will land unmanned on the Moon and return the craft to Earth.
Damaged Peregrine moon lander beams back photo, time running out on power
1:30
VideoFromSpace
1.71M subscribers
32,618 views Jan 9, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUrCc_S7Ut0
Astrobotic’s Peregrine moon lander suffered a propulsion system anomaly shortly after separation from it’s Vulcan Centaur rocket upper stage. A new image of the spacecraft shows “disturbed” insulation that points to the anomaly. Full Story: https://www.space.com/astrobotic-pere...
In Astrobotic’s last update on Jan. 8, 2024, they said: “The goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power.”
Credit: Space.com | footage & animation courtesy: ULA / Astrobotic / NASA | edited by Steve Spaleta
Dang, rocket science is hard.
Valves have always been bugaboos. Many space missions have been lost to valves, or launches scrubbed. Many oil rigs and refineries have been damaged or destroyed by valves. The part of our hearts most likely to fail is the valves. Every homeowner has dealt with bad valves. Then there is the internal combustion engine.
Valves are hard.
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