We already know what the sad end of Astrobotic’s Peregrine module will be.
The task on the Moon has still not been solved: landing a private company. Astrobotic was going to try it out this month. If everything had gone according to plan, we would have seen something similar to the simulation seen in the first photo: Astrobotic’s Peregrine module landing on the Moon. But this could not be. AND We already know what Peregrine’s final traffic will be..
Countries like the USA, Russia, China or India have reached the moon. But always through state and public bodies. A year ago, a Japanese company attempted to land on the moon, but its rocket crashed during the maneuver.
A few days ago, Astrobotic launched the Sapsan into orbit, but due to a problem with the propulsion system, the mission failed. What will happen now to the lander and the experiments of the seven countries it carries?
The tragic end of Astrobotic’s Peregrine module
The Astrobotic company manufactured lander “Sapsan”, which does not refer to religion, but to the fastest bird on Earth – the peregrine falcon. It measures 2.5 x 1.9 meters and weighs 1283 kilograms. It carries five NASA experiments and 15 from different countries..
Most of them are scientific experiments, but there are also some very dubious ones:
Inside is a Bitcoin in the form of a coin, as well as a plaque with a copy of the Genesis block, the first Bitcoin block mined. As well as 80,000 messages from children and even the ashes of deceased people, which will be buried on the Moon by Elysium Space.
The Peregrine 1 mission launched on January 9.on United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket, which also debuted.
Vulcan Centaur worked perfectly, sending the Sapsan lander to the Moon. But a few hours after launch, fuel began to leak from the propulsion module, and the solar panels could not be deployed.
Astrobotic released a new report this weekend. Confirms that Peregrine is located 383,000 kilometers from Earth., which means it has reached the Moon’s orbit. The problem is that there is no Moon, and it is much further behind, as you can see in this image:
If all had gone well, the Pilgrim would have been caught by the Moon’s gravity and made a few circles before landing.
What will happen now? As you can see in the image above, when the module runs out of fuel, It will again be pulled by Earth’s gravity and will eventually be destroyed upon contact with the atmosphere..
The first private mission to land on the moon failed, but Astrobotic has collected some very valuable data that will help it on its second try. Luck!