Moon

Peregrine Ends its Flight Above the Pacific Ocean

Published on 19 January 2024

After almost eleven days travelling between Earth and the Moon, the Peregrine lunar lander which failed to reach our satellite burned up in Earth's atmosphere. It made its re-entry over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia.

It’s all over for Peregrine. The Astrobotic private company’s small lunar lander ended its journey by burning up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Australia. At a press conference, NASA and Astrobotic announced that they would analyse flight data to understand the origin of the fuel loss that caused the mission to fail. In particular we might wonder about maintaining the launch date of VIPER, a lunar rover, designed by NASA but whose Griffin lander is also designed by Astrobotic . It is still scheduled for next November. This first launch as part of the CLPS programme served as a reminder that the path to the Moon remains difficult .

Nearly 50,000 km from Earth, Peregrine sent this photo. We see our planet, in the distance, plunged into darkness with a thin crescent.

@Astrobotic

LAST CONTACT

ASTROBOTIC LOST ALL CONTACT WITH PEREGRINE

On January 18, around 10 p.m., the private company Astrobotic lost all telemetric contact with Peregrine. “This indicates that the vessel has completed its controlled re-entry maneuver in the South Pacific,” Astrobotic explained on its X account (formerly Twitter). A few hours earlier, when the machine was nearly 50,000 km from Earth, it sent a photo of our planet . We can see a thin crescent in the distance and the rest of the Earth plunged into darkness.

OTHER MISSIONS COMING THIS YEAR

ASTROBOTIC AND INTUITIVE MACHINES PLANNED MORE LUNAR LANDERS AND ROVER LAUNCHES IN 2024

The Commercial Lunar Payloads Services is a program initiated by NASA. It plans to entrust private companies with the delivery of equipment or probes to the Moon as part of the Artemis programme. Peregrine was to be one of the first elements of the CLPS. In mid-February, Intuitive Machines, another private company, plans to launch Nova-C as part of the IM-1 mission with a Falcon 9 rocket. If all goes well, further IM-2 or even IM-3 missions could be scheduled at the end of the year.

Uncertainties for Astrobotic

In November 2024, Astrobotic plans to launch a much more ambitious mission. VIPER, a NASA rover, is to land on the South Pole of the Moon and analyse the lunar soil to identify the quantity of water present in the regolith. Astrobotic ‘s Griffin lander will take it to the Moon. For several weeks, NASA has been inviting the public to send their names to the Moon. The failure of Peregrine could call into question the schedule for this important scientific mission for the continuation of the Artemis programme and the identification of the next lunar landing sites for astronauts.

The VIPER rover is scheduled to be launched in November 2024 by the company Astrobotic .
@NASA

(2/2)Peregrine captured this video moments after successful separation from @ulalaunch Vulcan rocket. Counterclockwise from top left center is the DHL MoonBox, Astroscale's Pocari Sweat Lunar Dream Time Capsule, & Peregrine landing leg. Background: our big blue marble, Earth! pic.twitter.com/1y4OsosNDp
— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 19, 2024

Peregrine captured this video just after separation from ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
@Account X (formerly Twitter) of Astrobotic

NOT EASY TO REACH THE MOON

IN RECENT YEARS MANY LUNAR MISSIONS HAVE FAILED.

Since the end of the 1950s, Soviet Luna robotic missions have experienced numerous failures, sometimes in great secrecy. But more recently, few missions have achieved their goal.

In 2019, the Israeli company SpaceIL launched its first lunar mission, financed by the private fund Beresheet, with the ambition of landing on lunar soil. It crashed to the west of the Sea of Serenity.
Also in 2019, the Indian space agency ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 lander failed in its moon landing.
In December 2022, the Japanese company ISpace launched its first private lunar lander Hakuto-R M1 and notably transported the Rashid rover from the United Arab Emirates. The ship crashed into the surface of the Moon.
In August 2023, Luna 25, the first Russian lunar mission since 1976, crashed on the Moon following a technical problem during a change in lunar orbit.

Great Success

Conversely, the Chinese Chang’e programmes have enabled several moon landings, notably on the far side of the Moon and the return of samples. And last August, India became the fourth nation to land on the Moon by landing Chandrayaan-3. It remained active for one lunar day.

After the failure of Chandrayaan-2, the Indian space agency successfully landed a lunar lander, Chandrayaan-3, in August 2023. India became the fourth nation to land on the Moon.
@ISRO