Astrobotic's commercial lunar mission suffers engine failure in space

Hours into Astrobotic's history making Peregrine lunar lander mission, the company reports that the craft has run into engine issues. Aiming to become the first commercial company to place a spacecraft on the Moon, this news comes as a blow for anyone closely following this mission. As reported on the company's and website, Astrobotic is working hard to resolve the problem and get the mission back on track.

Having some teething problems "Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant. The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture. We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time," explained Astrobotic in its on the mission on its website.

Launched on January 8th, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the launch marks the start of a planned one and a half month journey of the first ever commercial lunar lander. The Peregrine lander had planned to , including five from NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The lander will carry various payloads, including artwork, historical artifacts, rover demonstrations, and missions to seek water ice near the lunar surface. "We’ve received the first image from Peregrine in space! The camera utilized is mounted atop a payload deck and shows Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) in the foreground.

The disturbance of the MLI is the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly," explained Astrobotic in the "Nonetheless, the spacecraft’s battery is now fully charged, and we are using Peregrine’s existing power to perform as many payload and spacecraft operations as possible," Astrobotic added.

"At this time, the majority of our Peregrine mission team has been awake and working diligently for more than 24 hours. We ask for your patience as we reassess incoming data so we can provide ongoing updates later this evening," said Astrobotic. Update #5 for Peregrine Mission One: The engine's issues come after several other apparent teething problems with the craft in space.

Before this, Astrobotic announced they had issues establishing communication with Peregrine shortly after launching from its Alliance’s Vulcan rocket launch vehicle. This occurred while the Astrobotic team attempted to orientate the craft's solar panels towards the Sun. "Just before entering a known period of communication outage, the team developed and executed an improvised maneuver to reorient the solar panels toward the Sun.

Shortly after this maneuver, the spacecraft entered an expected period of communication loss," explained Astrobotic in its . Thankfully, as update 3 of the mission explains, this was resolved shortly afterward. Gremlins in the system The reason for the propulsion system "anomaly" is yet to be ascertained, but Astrobotic has released some clues that could help sort it out.

"We’ve received the first image from Peregrine in space! The camera utilized is mounted atop a payload deck and shows Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) in the foreground. The disturbance of the MLI is the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly," said Astrobotic in its 5th mission update.

Astrobotic has said it is committed to keeping its audience updated on its progress, so check out its mission website and X social media accounts for the latest news..