Pittsburgh-built lunar lander may not make it to the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astrobotic’s lunar lander may not make it to the moon.

Astrobotic Technology’s lunar lander, known as Peregrine, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida overnight and headed into space aboard a United Launch Alliance “Vulcan” rocket. It’s the first time in 50 years the United States has tried to go back to the moon.

RELATED COVERAGE >>> Pittsburgh built lunar lander on its way to the moon

In a release just after 9:30 a.m. Monday, Astrobotic said the rocket successfully separated from Peregrine, started receiving telemetry from the NASA Deep Space Network, and the avionics systems “performed as expected.” They say Peregrine entered a safe operational state once propulsion systems were activated.

But, after that, Astrobotic says “an anomaly then occurred,” preventing the company from “achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation.”

In an update issued around 11 a.m. on X, formerly Twitter, Astrobotic says its team thinks the issue is a “propulsion anomaly” that could threaten the ability of the spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. Additionally, Peregrine’s battery is reaching “operationally low levels.”

The spacecraft then went into an expected period of communication loss just after Astrobotic’s team reportedly “executed an improvised maneuver to reorient the solar panels toward the Sun.”

Once the company re-established communication with Peregrine, it announced around 12:30 p.m. that the improvised maneuver was successful in reorienting the solar array and the battery was charging.

But, in an update 30 minutes later, Astrobotic says the failure is causing a critical loss of propellant.

At around 9:15 p.m. Monday, Astrobotic said the ongoing propellant leak is causing the spacecraft thrusters to operate beyond their expected life cycles.

Astrobotic said the goal at this time is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as possible before it loses power.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group