The Peregrine lander, which was in trouble, has managed to collect important data on its way. Now its journey is coming to an end, the company estimated on Saturday.
American Astrobotic's Peregrine lander is on its way back to Earth and will likely be destroyed in the atmosphere, the company said on Saturday. in X.
The lander was sent on its way to the Moon on January 8 and has been in trouble ever since due to, among other things, a fuel leak. However, the lander has managed to take pictures and run scientific equipment during its journey, for example for the US space administration, NASA.
This is the first time in more than fifty years that a lander was sent from the United States towards the moon.
“Leading the United States back to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo is a great honor,” CEO of private company Astrobotic John Thornton told before launch.
Peregrine was scheduled to land on the Moon at the end of February.
The Pittsburgh-based company said on Saturday that it is still trying to find options to bring the lander to Earth and that it will report on the situation as soon as new information is available.
“Our latest assessment shows that the lander is heading towards Earth and will likely burn up in the atmosphere,” the company said.
Astrobotic reported that the lander was 390,000 kilometers from Earth on Saturday.
Astrobotic is the third private operator to have failed in a controlled lunar landing. In the past, an Israeli non-profit organization and a Japanese company have tried the same thing.
The cargo carried by the Peregrine lander has caused an aggravation. The lander contains, among other things, the ashes of people and animals as well as DNA and, for example, a sports drink can.
The cargo has angered the Navajos, who belong to the indigenous population of North America, who say that the delivery in question is a desecration of an important celestial body for them.
“I think it would be a shame if they ended their failed mission by littering the surface of the Moon,” Chapman University professor of art history, archeology and space exploration Justin Walsh told the AFP news agency earlier in January.
NASA is running an experimental program involving private operators to get to the moon. According to AFP, NASA paid Astrobotic a good 100 million dollars, or a good 91.2 million euros, for its technology to be transported with the lander. The next lander to be sent to the Moon in cooperation with NASA is scheduled to be sent on its journey in February. It is backed by Houston-based Intuitive Machines.
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