NASA’s Peregrine 1 mission fails to reach the moon due to critical propulsion anomaly

Peregrine 1 on top of ULA Vulcan Rocket, Photo credit ULA

    In a series of updates given on their X (formally known as Twitter) they stated that initially they feared the spacecraft would not be able to orient itself towards the sun to charge its batteries, but then the Astrobotic team announced it had successfully completed an “improvised manoeuvre” and the solar array was working.
    In their second update, they stated that they're continuously gathering data and reporting their best assessment of what they know about the situation of the lander.
They further reported that "The team believes that the likely cause of the unstable sun-pointing is a propulsion anomaly that, if proven true, threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the Moon. As the team fights to troubleshoot the issue, the spacecraft battery is reaching operationally low levels. 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. We will provide more updates as Peregrine comes in view of the ground station again."
    Soon after this, they announced that they've successfully re-established communications with Peregrine after the known communication blackout. They said "The team's improvised maneuver was successful in reorienting Peregrine's solar array towards the Sun. We are now charging the battery. The Mission Anomaly Board continues to evaluate the data we're receiving and is assessing the status of what we believe to be the root of the anomaly: a failure within the propulsion system."

   They also said that they're grateful for the outpouring support they've been receiving - from messages on social media to phone calls. They gave their heartfelt thank you from the entire Peregrine Mission One team to their wellwishers and space community.
   In a later statement, the Pittsburgh-based company said its thrusters “could likely only operate for 40 more hours at most”, adding: “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.”

   Fun fact, Gemini VIII had an anomaly that was similar to Astrobotic Peregrine anomaly. A 25 pound OAMS roll thruster short circuited and started firing continuously which made the spacecraft to spin out of control. Neil Armstrong saved his and crew's lives by taking manual control to de-spin, but it used up the propellant so the mission had to end early.
   The Peregrine lander, which is carrying NASA scientific equipments, launched on the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, marking the first use of the powerful new rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed venture. Instruments on board include those that can measure radiation levels, surface and subsurface water ice, the magnetic field, and the extremely hazy layer of our atmosphere called the exosphere. Also onboard are five small moon rovers, each weighing less than 60g and measuring 12cm.
    Peregrine was scheduled to land on the moon on 23 February, when it would have begun to gather data about the lunar surface to help research for planned future human missions.
   The lander also contains non-scientific payloads, including DNA from former US presidents, including George Washington, John F Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower, which could now remain in space. The ashes of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, as well as those of former stars of the TV series, are also onboard.

By Azhar