- Peregrine lunar mission fails
- Helium surge causes explosion
- Valuable payloads lost
Following a disastrous mission to the moon, the private lunar lander operated by the United States concluded its endeavour on Thursday evening with a fiery re-entry into Earth.
The private contractor for the NASA mission announced today that an “Anomaly Review Board” will be convened to determine precisely what caused the explosive detonation that emptied the craft’s fuel and steered it off course.
Last week, a propellant leak made Peregrine One return to Earth instead of reaching the moon.
On Thursday, just before 4:00 pm EST (9:00 pm GMT), Peregrine caught fire in the atmosphere approximately 400 miles south of Fiji, over the South Pacific Ocean.
Astrobotic, a contractor of NASA that designed the Peregrine lander, released its final updates and a breathtaking video of the lander’s January 8 launch on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, another clip captured by a thermal-imaging camera documented the final moments of the thwarted moon robot Peregrine. The team attempted to divert the spacecraft away from human habitation by reorienting its thrusters.
Although the possibility of a United States lunar return has been momentarily thwarted, John Thornton, the CEO of Astrobotic, has expressed optimism regarding the company’s forthcoming Gryphon lunar lander missions.
Thornton Reflects on Peregrine’s Challenges
“What a wild journey we had just embarked on!” Thornton exclaimed. “Undoubtedly not the result we had hoped for, and certainly difficult from the beginning.”
Before NASA’s 2026 moon landing, these robotic lunar landers will scout for Artemis astronauts like the Peregrine.
The chief executive officer and mechanical engineer by profession gushed “victory after victory” as his group frantically attempted to salvage the scrapped Peregrine mission.
Thornton told reporters on Friday, “On the way out, we activated all payloads that had or could use power during the mission.”
Successful signals were received from all payloads, and data was obtained in return from all payloads capable of transmitting data. We were ecstatic to observe that.
DLR Appreciates Peregrine’s Radiation Data
Thornton observed that the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the German space agency, conveyed appreciation. The Peregrine’s scientific instrumentation successfully gathered essential data on cosmic radiation.
“The DLR M42 radiation detector operated flawlessly for the duration of the entire mission,” said Dr. Thomas Berger, chief of the DLR Biophysics Group and an authority on radiation biology, in a statement.
“Over 92 hours of data measuring the radiation environment in ‘free space’ were collected… which is of the utmost importance to the scientific community and DLR.”
Astrobotic announced in a statement released Thursday evening that, “as anticipated,” it lost telemetry signal reception from the Peregrine spacecraft at approximately 3:50 pm EST (8:50 pm GMT).
“Although this indicates that the vehicle successfully re-entered the atmosphere under controlled conditions in the South Pacific at 4:04 pm,” the company stated, “we are awaiting official confirmation from governmental sources.”
However, in the interim, Astrobotic also intends to assemble its team of industry specialists. They will analyse the spacecraft breakdown in the hours after its rocket launch on January 8.
NASA CEO John Thornton informed reporters at a media teleconference today at 1:00 pm EST, live-streamed on YouTube. He mentioned that an Anomaly Review Board will be conducting a thorough examination of this matter.
“At this time, our leading theory has not changed,” Thornton stated.
In contrast, a surge of helium [the ‘pressurant’ gas intended to propel the liquid fuel] into the oxidizer side seems to have resulted from an improper ‘reseat’ of the valve connecting helium to the oxidizer.
“I would even call it a rush,” he continued, “because it occurred extremely rapidly.”
Thornton echoed previous evaluations when he stated that the outcome was a “catastrophic loss of propellant,” which halted Peregrine’s lunar landing mission. At the same time, the crew scrambled to reorient the spacecraft and attempt to salvage applicable fallback objectives.
Astrobotic diverted Peregrine One to Earth to avoid space debris after it became clear it would not hit the moon.
It has been approaching Earth more closely over the past few days and is now less than 100,000 miles away.
The Astrobotic crew successfully manoeuvred the spacecraft and altered its intended course on Wednesday, directing it to traverse an uninhabited region of the South Pacific Ocean.
The propellant leak following many engine fires shifted the spacecraft’s altitude towards the South Pacific.
“The team’s procedures were designed to reduce the likelihood of debris reaching land,” the company further stated.
Astrobotic works with NASA and other government entities as needed to inform and solicit input.
Peregrine Re-entry and Payloads
During re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, spacecraft fragments are disintegrated. However, Earth’s shards, often larger than vehicles, can destroy land if they hit.
Upon impacting air molecules at an estimated 17,000 mph, Peregrine will re-enter the atmosphere and primarily undergo combustion and disintegration.
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Astrobotic anticipates that the surviving fragments will be confined to the designated region of the South Pacific.
The 1.2-ton spacecraft is transporting 20 payloads, including scientific instruments and DNA samples from former U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George Washington, by a $108 million contract with NASA.
Furthermore, the lander is replete with the ashes of approximately sixty other individuals. This includes Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who were also scheduled to have their remains scattered across the lunar surface.
Sadly, it is highly probable that these priceless artefacts will perish when the spacecraft combusts in the atmosphere of Earth.
Astrobotic reported that it had managed to operate scientific instruments it was transporting for NASA and other space agencies. It also collected data during the spaceflight, despite the failure.
