Peregrine Lander: U.S. Moon Mission Comes to an End in Flames over the Pacific Ocean

Peregrine Lander: U.S. Moon Mission Comes to an End in Flames over the Pacific Ocean

Last week, a US spaceship trying to land on the Moon sadly didn't make it, and it ended up going down in flames over the Pacific.

This spaceship, called Peregrine One, ran into trouble because of a problem with its propulsion system. This glitch ruined any chance it had of gently touching down on the Moon, and as a result, the decision was made to make it destroy itself.

The folks behind this mission were a company called Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh. They had to guide the spacecraft into Earth's atmosphere to burn up. A tracking station in Canberra, Australia, confirmed that they lost contact with Peregrine at 20:59 GMT.

Experts thought there wouldn't be much left of Peregrine by the time it reached the ocean. Even if some bits did survive, they were expected to land far away from any people.

Astrobotic's goal was to take five instruments from NASA to the Moon's surface. These instruments were supposed to check out the local environment before astronauts come back to the Moon in a few years.

If Peregrine had managed to land successfully, it would have been the first American mission to do so in 50 years and the first private company ever to pull off such a feat. Until now, only countries like the US, the Soviet Union, China, and India have been able to land on the Moon.

Astrobotic's mission hit problems right after the spaceship left its launch rocket on January 8. Even though things got tough, the team still did pretty well by keeping Peregrine going for more than 10 days in space.

Engineers figured out what went wrong with Peregrine and managed to make it last longer than expected. Airbus' Sian Cleaver says this should be seen as a big win in engineering, not a failure.

The trouble was traced back to a leaking propellant from a broken oxidizer tank. This was causing the spacecraft to turn and not keep its solar panels pointed at the Sun, which is crucial for power.

Astrobotic shared a video on social media showing what Peregrine saw before it burned up. The team worked hard to fix the spacecraft, even using up more of the dwindling propellant. Still, they managed to activate the instruments on board, proving they could work in space. Some instruments even collected data on radiation between Earth and the Moon.

One of the NASA instruments, called the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, had its sensor and electronics made in the UK. It performed well in tests, and the technology might fly again on future lunar missions.

Astrobotic is the first of three US companies working with NASA to send a lander to the Moon this year. The agency is teaming up with Pittsburgh's Astrobotic, along with Intuitive Machines and Firefly. Together, they planned six missions to the Moon's surface in 2024.

Later this year, Astrobotic will try again with a NASA rover named Viper. Houston's Intuitive Machines is planning its first attempt next month with the Nova-C craft aimed at the Moon's south pole. Before all this, the Japanese space agency will try landing near an impact crater called Shioli, scheduled for 15:20 GMT on Friday.

Nasa Exploration of the Moon The Moon Space exploration