The New York Times reports that a spacecraft that “was headed to the surface of the moon has ended up back at Earth instead, burning up in the planet’s atmosphere on Thursday afternoon.” Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh “announced in a post on the social network X that it lost communication with its Peregrine moon lander at 3:50 p.m. Eastern time, which served as an indication that it entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific at around 4:04 p.m.” It was a sad end to a trip that “lasted 10 days and covered more than half a million miles, with the craft traveling past the orbit of the moon before swinging back toward Earth.” But the spacecraft “never got close to its landing destination on the near side of the moon.” The main payloads “on the spacecraft were from NASA, part of an effort to put experiments on the moon at a lower cost by using commercial companies.” Astrobotic’s launch “was the first in the program, known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription publication)
Tag: reentry
Astrobotic Announces Peregrine Reentry Plans
Aviation Week reports Astrobotic Technology said that it is “projecting its troubled Peregrine lunar lander will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean around 4 p.m. EST on Jan. 18, two days earlier than previous estimates.” Space News reports Astrobotic “said it had to perform a two-step process to put the spacecraft on that reentry trajectory. One involved a series of 23 short burns by the spacecraft’s main engines. Astrobotic first tested those main engines Jan. 13, confirming they worked. However, the company said at the time that, because of the oxidizer leak, the fuel-to-oxidizer ratio ‘is well outside of the normal operating range of the main engines making long controlled burns impossible.’” The company “said it also oriented the spacecraft so that the force from the leaking propellant would push the spacecraft towards the desired reentry zone over the South Pacific, ensuring that any debris that survives reentry will fall outside of populated regions.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)
FAA Updates Policy to Require Reentry Licensing
Aviation Week reports, “After Varda Space’s reentry capsule got stuck in orbit for eight months without permission to return to Earth, the FAA has updated its policy and will no longer allow return capsules to launch into space without reentry authorization.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Says Falling Satellite Poses Low Risk
The AP reports an old NASA satellite – dubbed “Rhessi” – will fall to Earth Wednesday night, “but experts tracking the spacecraft say chances are low it will pose any danger.” While most of the 660-pound satellite “should burn up upon return…some parts are expected to survive.” However, NASA “said Tuesday that the reentry location is not being disclosed, given lingering uncertainty over when and where it might go down.” Still, the space agency “said in a statement the risk of anyone on Earth being harmed by plunging satellite pieces is ‘low’ – about 1-in-2,467.”
Full Story (Associated Press)