US Peregrine mission with cremated human remains abandons Moon landing; first photo shows anomaly

The United States' Peregrine spacecraft, which was headed towards the Moon and was carrying cremated human remains,abandoned the Moon landing less than 24 hours after the vehicle took off but malfunctionedbecause of a fuel leak.

Astrobotic Technology, the company which had made the first lunar lander to be launched in five decades from the US, said that the attempt to place Peregrine spacecraft on the Moon is being abandoned since the spacecraft suffered “critical” propellant loss because of a fuel leak, as per the company.

Hours after the launch of the vehicle from Florida towards the moon on Monday morning (Jan 8), it was announced by Astrobotic that the mission had encountered trouble. The lunar lander, which was named Peregrine, failed to place itself in a position in which it was facing the sun, especially because of a propulsion issue, as per Astrobotic. Due to its wayward orientation, the spacecraft was not able to charge its batteries.

Update #6 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/lXh9kcubXs — Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 9, 2024

Later, the battery issue was resolved, but Astrobotic failed to correct the apparent issue with the propulsion system of the Peregrine lander. In a statement posted on X, the company on Monday (Jan 8) said that an "ongoing propellant leak is causing the spacecraft's Attitude Control System (ACS) thrusters to operate well beyond their expected service life cycles to keep the lander from an uncontrollable tumble."

"At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power," the company added in a statementlate Monday evening.

Astrobotic said that the thrusters are likely to only operate for 40 more hours at most. This means a potential moon landing, which was scheduled for February 23, is not happening any more.

Just after 1 pm ET, Astrobotic had already warned that a “failure within the propulsion system” was draining the fuel of the vehicle. However, the company worked for hours on Monday to stabilise the issue and assess options.

Image of crippled private Peregrine Moon lander surfaces

Astrobotic, at one point, also shared the Peregrine lander's first image in space. In the photograph, the outer layers of insulation on the vehicle appeared crinkled.

The distorted material was “the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly,” said the company, in a post shared on the social media platform X on Monday (Jan 8).

Update #5 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/94wy2J0GyA — Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 8, 2024

"The camera utilised is mounted atop a payload deck and shows Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) in the foreground," wrote Astrobotic, in the X post which featured the photo. "The disturbance of the MLI is the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly," it added.

Watch:US: First Lunar mission in 50 years faces technical difficulties

They had also informed that the lander's battery was fully charged, "and we are using Peregrine's existing power to perform as many payload and spacecraft operations as possible," wrote Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, in that same X post.

Peregrine flew on Monday (Jan 8) as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme which arranged for getting five agency science instruments on the lander.

(With inputs from agencies)