2024-01-18 17:47:07
Peregrine, the moon lander from the American start-up Astrobotic, was deliberately lost on Thursday, probably disintegrated upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It failed last week to land on the Moon due to a fuel leak.
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An American lander, which failed to reach the Moon due to a fuel leak in flight, was deliberately lost on Thursday, probably disintegrating upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, announced the start-up that designed the ‘device.
Astrobotic specified on confirmation from the authorities to seal the fate of the machine.
Peregrine, that’s its name, took off at the beginning of last week from Florida, but a fuel leak was quickly identified, preventing it from being able to land gently on the Moon as planned.
The lander, however, continued to operate in space, collecting useful flight data for a future attempt, and even allowing experiments to be carried out on board, sent in particular by NASA, such as measuring radiation.
But the company also had to evaluate how to end the mission taking into account the uncertainties linked to the leak, and without risking creating problems for satellites in Earth orbit, or debris in lunar orbit.
“Difficult decision”
The company announced this weekend that it had made the “difficult decision” to maintain a trajectory directing the lander towards Earth, even if it might perhaps have continued to operate for “weeks”.
“We do not believe that Peregrine’s reentry poses any security risks, and the ship will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,” Astrobotic wrote at the time. The company directed the device to “minimize the risk of debris falling to the ground.”
The lander is regarding the size of a small golf cart. The company is planning a press conference on Friday to review the entire mission.
Astrobotic was to attempt the first landing of an American device on the Moon in more than 50 years, and the first by a private company. A Japanese mini-spacecraft must try to land on the Moon during the night from Friday to Saturday Japanese time, which would be a great first for the country.
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