Astrobotic allowing failed lunar lander to burn up reentering Earth's atmosphere

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic on Sunday announced plans to allow its failed lunar lander to burn up during reentry in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Peregrine lunar lander launched into space last Monday with the goal of a soft landing on the moon. It quickly became clear the lander wouldn’t achieve its goal, however, when a “critical” malfunction was identified in Peregrine’s propulsion system, leading to a fuel loss.

North Side-based Astrobotic on Saturday said the lander’s trajectory showed it was on a path toward Earth, where it likely would burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

“The responsible preservation of the cislunar space environment for all is top of mind as we complete this mission,” Astrobotic said in a release Sunday, referring to the space between the Earth and the moon.

Astrobotic said its team has been “evaluating how best to safely end the spacecraft’s mission to protect satellites in Earth orbit as well as ensure we do not create debris in cislunar space” since the lander’s issues were identified soon after its launch.

Astrobotic said it worked with NASA, others in the space community and the federal government to determine “the most safe and responsible course of action to end Peregrine’s mission.”

“The recommendation we have received is to let the spacecraft burn up during reentry in Earth’s atmosphere,” Astrobotic said, adding that the company has the final decision in how to end Peregrine’s final flight path because it’s a commercial mission.

The ultimate decision, Astrobotic said, is to let Peregrine maintain its current trajectory to reenter Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up. That decision was made as the company balanced “our own desire to extend Peregrine’s life, operate payloads and learn more about the spacecraft, with the risk that our damaged spacecraft could cause a problem in cislunar space.”

“By responsibly ending Peregrine’s mission, we are doing our part to preserve the future of cislunar space for all,” Astrobotic said.

The mission team has worked to stabilize the vehicle, turn on all active payloads and collect payload data, the company said. Peregrine has been in space for more than six days. It continues to leak propellant but “now at a very slow rate,” according to Astrobotic.

The team test-fired one of Peregrine’s main engines for the first time Saturday.

“We achieved a 200 millisecond burn and acquired data that indicated Peregrine could have main engine propulsive capability,” Astrobotic said. “However, due to the anomaly, the fuel to oxidizer ratio is well outside of the normal operating range of the main engines making long controlled burns impossible.”

The Astrobotic team anticipates the spacecraft has enough propellant left “to maintain sun pointing and perform small maneuvers.”

All of the payloads designed to do so have powered on and communicated with Earth. Peregrine is carrying several payloads from Carnegie Mellon University, NASA and other entities.

Astrobotic said they believe it’s possible Peregrine could operate for several more weeks, and the team “could potentially have raised the orbit to miss Earth.” The company, however, determined “we must take into consideration the anomalous state of the propulsion system and utilize the vehicle’s onboard capability to end the mission responsibly and safely.”

Peregrine is about 234,000 miles away from Earth’s atmosphere. Astrobotic said the lunar lander will return to the atmosphere “soon.”

The company said it does not anticipate Peregrine will pose safety risks to people on Earth, as it will burn up in the atmosphere. Astrobotic is validating that analysis with federal officials and will continue to operate the spacecraft and provide updates through the end of the mission.

“I am so proud of what our team has accomplished with this mission,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said. “It is a great honor to witness firsthand the heroic efforts of our mission control team overcoming enormous challenges to recover and operate the spacecraft after Monday’s propulsion anomaly.”

Thornton said he looked forward to sharing stories of the experience after the mission concludes Thursday.

“This mission has already taught us so much and has given me great confidence that our next mission to the moon will achieve a soft landing,” he said.

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