Another pale blue dot: Failed moon mission Peregrine clicks 'couple selfie' with Earth flashing a smile
Astrobotic
The doomed Peregrine Moon lander of USA’s Astrobotic company has sent back another in-space selfie to its home planet, this time with Earth ‘flashing smile’ in the background.
The ‘couple selfie’ in the space was taken on (Jan 9), which shows one of the lander’s legs as well as the Pocari capsule. The capsule contained “messages from children around the world” and was put on board by the Japanese company Astroscale.
But the photo had something else in the shot as well which captured the scientists’ attention. "Is that sliver in the upper right corner Earth, or a lens flare," asked Astrobotic in its post on X.
In an update posted Thursday (Jan 11), the company confirmed that “the curved sliver in the image is in fact Earth.” “This image from our spacecraft simulator shows the camera’s view of Earth at the time the photo was taken,” Astrobotic said in its post.
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The mission was earlier launched on Monday morning (Jan 8) but a fuel leak soon threw spanner in the works. Astrobotic thinks the leak may have been caused by a stuck valve, which led to a ruptured oxidizer tank.
The company later said the attempt to place Peregrine spacecraft on the Moon was being abandoned since the spacecraft suffered “critical” propellant loss.
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 companyin a post shared on the social media platform X on Monday (Jan 8).
"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.
(With inputs from agencies)