{"id":17232,"date":"2024-01-09T17:50:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T09:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astrobotic-rules-out-soft-landing-on-moon-after-propellant-leak-dooms-its-spacecraft\/"},"modified":"2024-01-09T17:50:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T09:50:07","slug":"astrobotic-rules-out-soft-landing-on-moon-after-propellant-leak-dooms-its-spacecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astrobotic-rules-out-soft-landing-on-moon-after-propellant-leak-dooms-its-spacecraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrobotic rules out soft landing on moon after propellant leak dooms its spacecraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-806169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240109-peregrine.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Astrobotic\u2019s Peregrine lander is shown during last month\u2019s preparations for launch. (ULA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Astrobotic says that it\u2019s given up on its plan to put a commercial spacecraft safely on the moon\u2019s surface, due to a propellant leak that will soon leave its Peregrine lander without fuel.<\/p>\n<p>The Pittsburgh-based company said there was no indication that the leak occurred as the result of the lander\u2019s launch by United Launch Alliance. ULA\u2019s Vulcan Centaur rocket made its first liftoff over the weekend with the aid of BE-4 engines provided by Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture.<\/p>\n<p>The Astrobotic team\u2019s working theory is that a valve between the propulsion system\u2019s oxidizer and a store of helium that served to pressurize the oxidizer tank failed to reseal after it was actuated during spacecraft initialization. \u201cThis led to a rush of high-pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank,\u201d Astrobotic said today in mission update.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the resulting leak, mission controllers had a hard time keeping Peregrine\u2019s solar arrays pointed toward the sun \u2014 but today Astrobotic said \u201cthe team was able to update the control algorithm and fix this issue.\u201d The lander\u2019s batteries are currently fully charged, and onboard cameras are sending pictures back down to Earth.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1744859691404927300&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2024%2Fastrobotic-no-moon-landing%2F&amp;sessionId=f1313f08f2ccbfad5603bd4a5f19e964276bab0f&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1744859691404927300\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782799291854899477=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Update #9 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com\/nRxfvNivwm<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 9, 2024<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Although Astrobotic said there was \u201cno chance\u201d of making a soft landing on the moon, there\u2019s still enough propellant \u201cto continue to operate the vehicle as a spacecraft.\u201d Current estimates suggest that Peregrine will run out of fuel within a couple of days \u2014 long before the craft was scheduled to touch down on the moon. Astrobotic\u2019s update didn\u2019t address the possibility of making a crash landing.<\/p>\n<p>Peregrine\u2019s main mission was to deliver a suite of NASA-supported science instruments to the lunar surface, under the terms of a program known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS. It was also carrying more than a dozen secondary payloads, ranging from a mini-rover and micro-robots to DNA archives.<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s contract called for paying $108 million to Astrobotic, but the full amount may not end up being paid out. On Monday, NASA said it was \u201cworking with Astrobotic to determine impact\u201d on its planned science investigations.<\/p>\n<p>Astrobotic highlighted how Peregrine might still help pave the way for future landers. \u201cWe continue receiving valuable data and proving spaceflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar lander mission, Griffin,\u201d the company said. Griffin is due to deliver NASA\u2019s VIPER rover to the moon late this year.<\/p>\n<p>Next month, Houston-based Intuitive Machines plans to have its Nova-C lander launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a CLPS-supported trip to the moon\u2019s south polar region. That will be the next opportunity to put a U.S.-built spacecraft safely on the moon \u2014 something that hasn\u2019t been done since Apollo 17 in 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astrobotic\u2019s Peregrine lander is shown during last month\u2019s preparations for launch. (ULA Photo) Astrobotic says that it\u2019s given up on its plan to put a commercial spacecraft safely on the moon\u2019s surface, due to a propellant leak that will soon leave its Peregrine lander without fuel. The Pittsburgh-based company said there was no indication that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[697,2043,625,190],"class_list":["post-17232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astrobotic","tag-lunar-lander","tag-moon","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}