The head of the US space agency whose lunar lander failed this week in its mission to reach the moon expressed optimism on Friday that the next attempt will achieve its goal.
“I am more confident now than ever that our next mission will be successful and land on the surface of the Moon,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said at a press conference, highlighting the challenges his team had overcome in the “unexpected but very exciting mission”.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine spacecraft launched on January 8 as part of a new experimental partnership between the US space agency NASA and private industry aimed at reducing costs for US taxpayers and creating a lunar economy.
But the lander experienced an explosion shortly after separating from its rocket and was leaking fuel, damaging its outer shell and making it impossible to reach its destination.
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Thornton called it a “difficult” moment, saying the problem likely stemmed from a faulty valve and that a full investigation would be carried out.
But he remained optimistic about the mission.
“After that anomaly, we just had win after win, showing that the spacecraft worked in space, showing that the payloads can work,” he said, referring to the science experiments on board, particularly from NASA, that were able to collect data.
Thornton said he had “independent confirmation” that the disabled Peregrine lander had burned up in the atmosphere as it fell back to Earth.
Astrobotic’s next mission, scheduled for November, is to take a NASA-developed rover to the Moon’s South Pole, where American astronauts are set to explore in the coming years.
The Viper rover’s mission is to learn more about the origin and distribution of water — in the form of ice — and determine how it might be used in future missions.
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Viper will go to the Moon with Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, which is about three times the size of the ill-fated Peregrine.
Viper is “very sophisticated and expensive,” said senior NASA official Joel Kearns. “So we want to make sure we really understand the root cause and the factors that contributed to what happened at Peregrine.”
“If we need to modify our plans for Griffin … we will,” he added.
NASA had paid Astrobotic about $100 million under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to send its scientific instruments to the Moon as it prepares to send American astronauts back to the barren world later this decade under the Artemis program .
NASA officials have made it clear their strategy “more shots on goal” means more scoring opportunities. The next CLPS effort, from Houston-based Intuitive Machines, begins in February.
Source: AFP