A week ago, on Jan 8, the Peregrine spacecraft developed by Astrobotic and partially funded by NASA, was launched to achieve America’s first lunar landing since the Apollo days.
The goal of the Peregrine program is develop commercial technology for transport of equipment and instruments for govt. and private clients to the moon.
The robotic Peregrine 2.5m x 1.9m lander was carrying -
1. Two rovers
2. 6 instruments for NASA, one for Probotic and one for Germany
3. 13 different "time capsules" for private organizations carrying mementos, images, art, stories, crypto-currency and human remains.
Crypto-currency and human remains, WTH?
Unfortunately, it’s propellant tank developed a rupture soon after launch and started leaking propellant. The original plan was to travel out to the moon’s orbit, 384,000 km away, loop back wards earth and swing around for a rendezvous with the moon on Jan 23. Now the plan is to let it dive into Earth’s atmosphere on Jan 18 and burn up. It still has some propellant left to keep its solar panels pointed correctly and operate some instruments.
As the saying goes, space is hard.
But, you learn from failure and prepare for the next mission.
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