The fate of an ambitious mission to put the first commercial spacecraft on the moon hangs in the balance as technical difficulties plague the United States’s endeavor to place its first robot on the lunar surface in over 50 years. Vulcan, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket carrying the robotic lunar lander Peregrine, developed by space robotics firm Astrobotic Technology, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:18 am on Monday. However, shortly after the launch, technical malfunctions began to surface.
One of the initial issues encountered by Astrobotic was an inability to orient Peregrine’s solar panel towards the sun, resulting in a failure to keep its onboard battery charged due to a propulsion system malfunction. Engineers managed to improvise a solution to tilt the spacecraft in the right direction but were soon confronted with a critical loss of propellant, which appears to be caused by the propulsion system failure.
Astrobotic took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to update the public on the situation. “The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture,” the company stated. “We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.”
The mission holds significant importance as it represents a growing space race among private companies. If successful, it would mark the first-ever lunar landing by a private company and the first US landing on the moon since 1972. Peregrine’s intended landing date was set for February 23, and its mission aimed to gather valuable data about the lunar surface in preparation for future human missions. Additionally, this launch is a crucial milestone for ULA, as its Vulcan rocket was developed to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 in the satellite launch market.
While private companies have faced challenges in their lunar exploration endeavors, such as Japan’s ispace and an Israeli company crash-landing on their initial attempts, the competition among private space operators continues. US company Intuitive Machines also has a spacecraft prepared for flight and hopes to beat Astrobotic to the moon by taking a more direct path.
Astrobotic CEO John Thornton acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding who will be the first to successfully launch and land on the moon. “First to launch. First to land is TBD,” Thornton stated.
The fate of this mission underscores the growing importance of private companies in the space industry and highlights the accelerating space race taking place. This setback serves as a reminder of the challenges and risks involved in pushing the boundaries of space exploration. As engineers work to stabilize the critical loss of propellant, the scientific community and space enthusiasts eagerly await updates on the future of the mission.
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