Posted on 01/08/2024 11:05:31 AM PST by JSM_Liberty
The company behind America's latest mission to soft-land on the Moon is battling to save the project.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic says its Peregrine spacecraft has a faulty propulsion system, which, unless fixed, will prevent a lunar touch-down.
The problem has already made it difficult for the craft to point its solar panels at the Sun to generate electricity.
Astrobotic is already talking about changing its mission goals. The 1.2-tonne lander was launched early on Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Vulcan rocket.
It is aiming to become the first American mission in half a century to make a controlled landing on the Moon and be the first ever commercial endeavour to do so.
The US space agency (Nasa) had purchased capacity on the lander for five instruments to study the lunar surface environment ahead of sending astronauts there later this decade. Peregrine's problems emerged shortly after communications had been established with ground controllers, following its release from the top of the Vulcan.
Engineers noticed the spacecraft was struggling to maintain a stable lock on the Sun, meaning its solar cells were not receiving a constant supply of sunshine to recharge the onboard battery.
Power levels were reported to be reaching operationally low levels.
Astrobotic's engineers eventually identified the root cause as a failure in the propulsion system.
And although they were able to successfully re-point the spacecraft and charge the battery, it was evident, the company said, that Peregrine was losing propellant.
"The team is working to try and stabilise this loss, but given the situation we have prioritised maximising the science and data we can capture," a statement read.
"We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time."...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
It’s a risk being the first time sending a lander to the moon.... What? Oh, wait...
Engineer: I know we were aiming for a controlled landing, but, hear me out, an uncontrolled landing is still a landing...
It’s the first time for “Astrobotic” ... and the first time I’ve ever heard of them.
To think we successfully designed craft to land on the moon using slide rules and computers with the power equivalent to a calculator.
Darn Electric moon landers, ... well, at least they are environmentally friendly.
Newsflash: Moon to look like doughnut!
Winding around to:
It’s coming home, but precisely where, is unknown to the public.
Those human remains will never make it to the moon.
An electric spacecraft? God how I long for the heady days of mercury and Gemini space programs.
Thanks!
According to that article, they’ve been around for more than a decade, had two projects canceled, and this is their first payload to launch.
Too much diversity.
They did well to get this far. This actually is ‘Rocket Science’!.................
I'm mildly curious to know what you mean by asking that. Do you think that previous spacecraft did not use electricity? Are you surprised to find that a spacecraft is powered by solar energy?
How do you think that the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft powered their various systems?
I know ... rocket science isn’t easy. Neither is rocket engineering. And there have been high profile screwups by players in the game that have earned good reputations. Still ... this is not a good start.
At least it didn’t explode on liftoff. If it makes it to the Moon and gets into orbit it can be retrieved by some future mission’s robot................
That speaks to ULA and Blue Origin. Looks like at least we may have a second “large” launch vehicle available.
Not to throw any disrespect at Rocket Lab. Electron is a nice launch vehicle, just definitely in the “small” category.
Space is hard. Even the Russians had a failure on a lunar mission just a few months ago.
They should have have hired more women of color to do the calculations. S/
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