The lander’s failure prevented it from properly pointing its solar panels toward the sun to charge its onboard batteries. Despite eventually repositioning the craft to face the sun, Astrobotic later reported a catastrophic propellant leak.
The company announced Tuesday that the spacecraft is expected to run out of fuel within about 40 hours. “The team continues to work hard to find ways to extend Peregrine’s operational life.” Astrobot officials said in a statement regarding X. “We are in stable operational mode, testing and checking out the payload and spacecraft.”
The Peregrine lander was the first U.S. lunar lander launched into space in more than 50 years. The mission was the first under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program, which allows NASA to hire private companies to transport scientific and other equipment to the Moon.
Another Houston-based company plans to launch its own commercially developed lander next month as part of the same NASA initiative.
Although the Hayabusa lander will not be able to complete its mission, there is still much to learn from the flight, Astrobotic said.
“We continue to receive valuable data and provide spaceflight operations for components and software related to the upcoming Lunar Module Mission Griffin,” the company said in a statement.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
