Insider Brief:
- Astrobotic’s Peregrine spacecraft has faced a technical anomaly resulting in difficulties stabilizing its solar panels towards the Sun, preventing it from effectively charging its batteries and maintaining power supply.
- The Peregrine mission aims to achieve the first soft landing on the Moon by an American mission in over 50 years, and the first ever by a private company.
- NASA has purchased capacity on the lander for five instruments to study the lunar environment, providing valuable data for upcoming NASA astronaut missions later in the decade.
- Image credit: Astrobotic.
In a setback for the first US private Moon mission, Astrobotic’s Peregrine spacecraft has faced a technical anomaly since its launch on Monday. The company reported that the spacecraft is experiencing difficulties in stabilizing its solar panels towards the Sun, preventing it from effectively charging its batteries and maintaining power supply.
The Peregrine mission, which aims to achieve the first soft landing on the Moon by an American mission in over 50 years, and the first ever by a private company, is now at a standstill due to the power issue as reported by the BBC.
The 1.2-tonne lander was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Vulcan rocket. This mission is not only a significant commercial endeavor but is also important for NASA, which has purchased capacity on the lander for five of their instruments. The equipment is designed to study the lunar environment, providing valuable data for upcoming NASA astronaut missions later in the decade.
Astrobotic has assured that its engineers are actively working to address the issue, and updates will be provided as soon as more information becomes available.
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