UPDATE #6 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE:
An ongoing propellant leak is causing the spacecraft’s Attitude Control System (ACS) thrusters to operate well beyond their expected service life cycles to keep the lander from an uncontrollable tumble. If the thrusters can continue to operate, we believe the spacecraft could continue in a stable sun pointing state for approximately 40 more hours, based on current fuel consumption.
At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power.
UPDATE #7 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
The Peregrine spacecraft has now been operational for about 32 hours.
Overnight, the team faced another spacecraft pointing issue, but continues to persevere. The spacecraft started to tilt away from the Sun and reduced its solar power generation. The team was able to update the control algorithm and fix this issue. The batteries are at full charge.
Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the Moon. However, we do still have enough propellant to continue to operate the vehicle as a spacecraft. The team has updated its estimates, and we currently expect to run out of propellant in about 40 hours from now — an improvement from last night’s estimate. The team continues to work to find ways to extend Peregrine’s operational life. We are in a stable operating mode and are working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts. We continue receiving valuable data and proving spaceflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar lander mission, Griffin.
UPDATE #8 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
Astrobotic’s current hypothesis about the Peregrine spacecraft’s propulsion anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization. This led to a rush of high pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank. While this is a working theory, a full analysis report will be produced by a formal review board made up of industry experts after the mission is complete. All available data is being downloaded from the lander to support this assessment.
ULA’s Vulcan rocket inserted Peregrine into the planned translunar trajectory without issue. There is no indication that the propulsion anomaly occurred as a result of the launch.
UPDATE #9 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
We received another beautiful image from Peregrine’s journey! Is that sliver in the upper right corner Earth or a lens flare?
The camera that took this image is located on the bottom of one of Peregrine’s payload decks. Just left of center in the image is the DHL MoonBox payload covered in MLI, which contains hundreds of thousands of messages from the people of Earth. Visible to the right of MoonBox and near the bottom center of the photo is Astroscale’s Pocari Sweat Lunar Dream Time Capsule – this was the first payload under contract with Astrobotic and contains messages from children around the world. The bottom center right of the image shows one of Peregrine’s landing legs obscured by the electrical interface where we were connected with the launch vehicle.
UPDATE #10 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
Peregrine has been operational in space for 55 hours. We are at an approximate distance of 192,000 miles from Earth, which is 80% of the way to lunar distance. Although we are approaching lunar distance, the Moon won’t be there. We remain on our nominal trajectory for the mission, which includes a phasing loop around Earth. This loop goes out to lunar distance, swings back around the Earth, and then cruises out to meet the Moon. This trajectory reaches the Moon in about 15 days post-launch.
Peregrine continues to leak propellant but remains operationally stable and continues to gather valuable data. We estimate that we will run out of propellant in about 35 hours, an improvement on yesterday’s update. The team is working around the clock to generate options to extend the spacecraft’s life.
UPDATE #11 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
Our flight dynamics team has confirmed that the curved sliver in this image taken on our first day of operations is, in fact, Earth! This image from our spacecraft simulator shows the camera’s view of Earth at the time the photo was taken.
Peregrine remains stable and fully charged. The spacecraft continues to transmit valuable data. We are now 200,000 miles from earth, which is about 84% of the way to lunar distance.
Starting at around 7pm EST, we will enter an expected 9-hour period of Loss of Signal, our longest period without communication yet. We expect to re-establish communication with the spacecraft again at around 4am EST. We estimate that the spacecraft has about 36 hours of propellant remaining, another improvement since this morning.
UPDATE #12 FOR PEREGRINE MISSION ONE
As Peregrine emerges from a planned communications blackout with NASA’s DSN ground network, we’re pleased to announce the team’s efforts to gather payload data have been fruitful. We have successfully received data from all 9 payloads designed to communicate with the lander. All 10 payloads requiring power have received it, while the remaining 10 payloads aboard the spacecraft are passive.
These payloads have now been able to prove operational capability in space and payload teams are analyzing the impact of this development now. We are proud of the mission team for achieving this incredible feat under such challenging circumstances. Below are a list of payloads that have received power:
– (pictured) Iris Lunar Rover from Carnegie Mellon University. At the bottom of the overexposed image sent from Peregrine in space are the Iris rover’s wheels. To its left is a fuel tank with the American flag.
– COLMENA from LINX-UNAM (together with Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM))
– M–42 Radiation Detector from the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
– Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS) from NASA’s Johnson Space Center
– Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) from NASA’s Ames Research Center
– Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) from NASA’s Ames Research Center
– Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, The Open University (OU), NASA, and the European Space Agency (ESA).
– Pocari Sweat’s Lunar Dream Time Capsule from Astroscale
– Optical Precision Autonomous Landing (OPAL) TRN sensor from Astrobotic
– (a subsystem) Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) from NASA’s Langley Research Center