American lander that missed the moon has disappeared into Earth’s atmosphere – 01/19/2024 at 03:09
An image taken on January 18 by the private American moon lunar lander Peregrine developed by the Astrobotic Company (foreground) and showing Earth in the background (Astrobotic/-).
An American lander, which failed to reach the moon due to an in-flight fuel leak, was deliberately lost on Thursday, possibly disintegrating on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, announced a start-up that designed the ‘device’.
Astrobotic dictates to the authorities to seal the machine’s fate.
Peregrine, as it’s called, took off from Florida early last week, but a fuel leak was quickly identified, preventing it from being able to make a soft landing on the moon as planned.
The lander, however, continued to operate in space, collecting flight data useful for future efforts, and also allowing experiments to be carried out on board, particularly those sent by NASA, such as measuring radiation.
But the company also had to assess how to end the mission without risking problems for satellites in Earth orbit or debris in lunar orbit, taking into account the uncertainties associated with the leak.
The company announced this weekend that it had made a “difficult decision” to maintain the lander’s trajectory toward Earth, even though it might have continued operating for “weeks.”
“We do not believe that re-entry of the Peregrine poses any safety risks, and the ship will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,” Astrobotic wrote at the time. The company directed the device to “reduce the risk of debris falling to the ground.”
The lander is about the size of a small golf cart.
The company is planning a press conference on Friday to review the entire mission.
The Astrobotic was to attempt the first landing of an American apparatus on the Moon in more than 50 years, and the first by a private company.
The Japanese mini-spacecraft must try to land on the moon during the night from Friday to Saturday Japan time, which would be a first for the country.
