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After flying hundreds of thousands of miles through space and battling a propellant problem that derailed its plans, the Peregrine lunar lander has likely met its fiery end.
The spacecraft was expected to end its shortened, 10-day journey around 4 p.m. ET Thursday when it crashed into Earth’s thick atmosphere over a remote area of the South Pacific, due east of Australia.
Astrobotic Technology, the Pittsburgh-based company that developed the Peregrine lander under a contract with NASA, confirmed the spacecraft’s demise and said it lost contact with the vehicle just before its scheduled return time, which “indicates that the vehicle has lost its controlled return completed over time. open water in the South Pacific.”
However, the company added in a social media post: “we are awaiting independent confirmation from government agencies.”
Officials from NASA and Astrobotic are expected to speak publicly about the mission during a news briefing on Friday at 1:00 PM ET.
The failed mission is a setback for Astrobotic and NASA, whose overall goal is to create a stable of commercially developed, relatively inexpensive lunar landers capable of completing robotic missions to the moon as the space agency works toward a crewed moon landing later this decade.
Critical setbacks after launch
The Peregrine lander was launched on January 8 atop a Vulcan Centaur rocket, a new vehicle developed by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
The launch went smoothly and delivered the Peregrine lander safely into orbit on its way to the moon. If the spacecraft had managed to reach the lunar surface, it would have been the first US mission to make a soft landing on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
But hours into its solo flight, the Peregrine lander suffered critical setbacks. Astrobotic confirmed that the spacecraft had a serious problem with its onboard propulsion systems and was leaking fuel, leaving the lander without enough gas to make a soft landing on the moon.
Astrobotic then changed course. The company ordered the spacecraft to function more like a satellite, testing the scientific instruments and other systems on board as it flew thousands of miles through the void.
Ultimately, Astrobotic decided it would dispose of the vehicle by crashing it into the Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds.
What Peregrine’s failure means
The loss of the Peregrine lander is a blow to Astrobotic and NASA.
An agreement between the two organizations made this mission possible, with NASA handing over $108 million to help Astrobotic with its development efforts and fly five payloads. That price tag represents an increase of about 36% over the original contract value, with the deal being renegotiated amid pandemic-related supply chain issues, according to Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
The US space agency does not consider the Peregrine spacecraft as the only option for conducting robotic research on the moon. NASA also has partnerships with three other companies developing robotic lunar landers, including Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which could launch its first mission in mid-February.
Through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, NASA designed these lunar lander contracts as “fixed price” agreements, meaning the space agency hands over one lump sum of money rather than continuing to pay a company throughout the development process if problems arise.
“This is one of many relatively inexpensive missions being sent to the surface of the moon to try to break the paradigm and reach a new price point,” Thornton told CNN earlier this month.
The deal is also structured so that the companies retain full ownership of their own vehicles, and NASA becomes just one of many customers carrying cargo on the landers.
A testing ground for commercial lunar landers
A private lunar lander has never reached the lunar surface safely, although other companies have tried. In 2019, a spacecraft built by the Israeli company SpaceIL crashed onto the moon during a landing attempt. And in 2023, Japan-based company Ispace again lost control of its lander as it flew to the lunar surface.
SpaceIL, Ispace and Astrobotic all have their roots in the same competition: the Google Lunar But the X Prize ended without a winner as none of the teams started before the final deadline.
Whether a commercially developed lunar lander can reach the lunar surface remains to be seen – and perhaps an even more intriguing question is whether lunar missions offer a financially sustainable business model for these companies.
Aside from money from NASA and other government space agencies, Astrobotic’s revenue for the Peregrine mission was generated through partnerships including space burial companies that send human remains to the moon, as well as packaged trinkets, plaques, a bitcoin and other commemorative items for customers . .
Astrobotic’s Thornton admitted to reporters that the Peregrine mission cost his company more money than it made. However, failure would not be the end for Astrobotic, he told CNN.
“It will certainly have some impact on our relationships and our ability to secure additional missions in the future,” Thornton said Jan. 2. “It certainly wouldn’t be the end of the matter, but it would certainly be a challenge.
“We are in a high-risk space business, and this is just the nature of space companies.”
Astrobotic already has a contract to fly another robotic lunar lander mission for NASA later this year. This lander, named Griffin, a larger model than Peregrine, will aim to place a rover near the moon’s south pole.
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