A defeat in space for the United States and a lost opportunity for Mexico

The journey of Astrobotic’s Peregrine module, which marks NASA’s return to the Moon after more than 50 years and the first visit by a mission to the satellite from Mexico and UNAM, began as planned. However, after a few hours the journey became uncertain, and At the end In failure to reach the moon.

Problems with the Peregrine module began slowly, first with an anomaly that prevented the Navyand orients itself steadily towards the sun to obtain energy, which caused a malfunction in the propulsion system, jeopardizing the ship’s ability to perform.soft landing“On the moon.

Although the position of the ship could be corrected A makeshift trick to recharge their batteriesThe source of the problem was also found to be a failure in the propulsion system, causing severe fuel loss.

Astrobotic also indicated that while it was trying to stabilize the leak, its priority was to maximize the science and data that could be captured, to the extent that the mission team Evaluating Viable Alternative Mission ProfilesThat is, looking for how to take advantage of available resources to conduct the maximum amount of research.

gradually lose control

His update, posted at 8 p.m. CDT on January 8, was a powerful 6. Derived from fuel leak, Peregrine couldn’t stand still And its thrusters were operating below capacity.

As a result, Astrobotic said, if the thrusters could remain operational, it was estimated that the spacecraft could continue pointing safely toward the Sun. for about 40 more hoursThat is, till noon on Wednesday, January 10.

Despite the problems, the essence of the mission remains, as Astrobotic assured it was intended to be. Get the peregrine as close to the moon as possible Not having the ability to recharge its batteries eventually led to a loss of energy, before losing the ability to keep the ship pointed towards the Sun.

The chances of reaching the moon are coming to an end

In Update 7 of Peregrine Mission One, Astrobotic was more optimistic, despite admitting that due to a propellant leak there was no possibility of landing on the moonThe ship still had enough fuel to function as a spacecraft and lifted off at 11 a.m. Central Mexico time on Tuesday, January 9.

Furthermore, Astrobotic also stated that the propellant was expected to be exhausted after 40 hours (i.e. Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 3 am), an improvement on previous estimates.

Of course, the company admitted to working on new variants extend the operational life of the shipPerforming tests and checks on payloads, receiving “valuable data“And verifying operation in space flights for components and software for our next lunar landing attempt with the Griffin mission.

Astrobotic’s current hypothesis is that the spacecraft presented a valve anomaly Between the helium pressurizer and the oxidizer that did not seal after activation. As a result, it caused “high pressure helium avalanche“, causing the tank to break.

Importance of Peregrine Mission

The Peregrine mission aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket accomplished a feat unlike missions conducted by NASA or any other space agency. New phase of private space exploration On the moon.

This project, led by Astrobotic, made it possible to gain space within the module Launch multiple exploration missions for different customersThat includes several NASA payloads, such as a radiation detector and spectrometer to find evidence of ice beneath the satellite’s surface.

In the agency’s case, it marked its return to the Moon after more than 50 years, not with one of its own missions nor as part of Artemis, but In a commercial space project.

These customers included Colmena, a project run by UNAM that aimed to take it to the Moon. Five tiny robots that will analyze regolith (Lunar dust) to produce oxygen and metal, but they will also try and they will try to join together to make a solar panel and generate energy.

However, now that landing on the Moon is no longer an option, the Colmena mission will not take place. The satellite is being designed to detect the surface ofHowever for UNAM all technological developments in miniaturizing robotic systems and the training of students at the university remain as knowledge.

Despite not being able to analyze the regolith, UNAM considers it to be Colmena. Have achieved at least 50% successBecause even on the Peregrine ship it has achieved correct ignition of robots in space.

According to Gustavo Medina Tanco, the person responsible for the mission and head of the Space Instrumentation Laboratory (LINX) of the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (ICN) of UNAM, the experience in this mission Will allow an efficient design for Colmena 2Which will also complete the scientific work initially planned for this project.