The American return to the Moon in more than 50 years is in suspense after the damage to the Peregrine module that apparently will prevent it from reaching the lunar surface with NASA experiments, Mexico and human remains, and that will predictably leave it spinning around in the space in the next few days.
The fate of Astrobotic’s Peregrine module, which was supposed to reach the Moon in February, remains uncertain after the failures it presented hours after the successful launch on Monday, January 8 from Florida.
This ship is left with less and less fuel to reach its goal, and it is also already a fact that it could not have a “soft” landing on the Moon due to its propulsion system problems, according to Astrobotic.
Aboard the Peregrine One Mission, which was to be the first American commercial robotic lunar landing, there are about twenty payloads from customers including NASA, with five of them to study the surface, atmosphere and radiation environment of the Moon.
There are also five miniature autonomous ‘rovers’ from what would be Mexico’s first lunar mission, and another small explorer vehicle designed by students at Carnegie Mellon University, among many other private cargoes, including one from a space funeral company, he reported. EFE.
La República.pe highlighted that this initiative, operated by the private company Astrobotic Technology and partially financed by NASA, intended to bring the remains of more than 90 humans (ashes and DNA samples) and messages from close to the satellite to the surface of the satellite. 80 thousand children from all over the world.
The Peregrine promised to be a beacon of space conquest and posthumous tribute, but just six hours after takeoff, the private lunar mission encountered a technical barrier that hindered the orientation of its solar panels towards the Sun.
Although the engineers managed a maneuver to charge their batteries, a leak in the propulsion system emptied the essential fuel for their lunar landing, scheduled for February 23, the company reported through its networks.
Among these remains were the ashes of pioneers of science fiction literature and famous television personalities, such as the British writer Arthur C. Clarke and members of the cast of ‘Star Trek’, Scientific American reported.
Also traveling on the ship were DNA samples from former US presidents such as George Washington and John F. Kennedy, and even the cremated remains of a dog.