UK Scientists Strive to Extract Data from Imperilled Moon Mission
Image Credit – @PA Media
Scientists from the United Kingdom, integral to the development of a technology component for the lunar mission, are tirelessly working to collect crucial data from the spacecraft before its power dwindles. The Peregrine Mission One (PM1), constructed by the US space company Astrobotic, embarked on its journey on Monday but encountered a fuel leak shortly after liftoff.
Astrobotic, in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), revealed that its engineers successfully oriented the spacecraft towards the Sun, allowing the solar panel to absorb sunlight and charge its battery. However, the Peregrine’s thrusters, responsible for maintaining its flight path, are operating “well beyond their expected service life cycles” to prevent the lander from deviating.
Dr. Simeon Barber, involved in the development of a critical sensor called the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer on the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS), shared that he and his colleagues are working in shifts to maximize returns from the exospheric mass spectrometer. They face the challenge as the Peregrine has a limited lifetime.
The 1.2-tonne probe, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, aimed to land on the Moon by February 23. However, after separating from the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, the Astrobotic team discovered that Peregrine struggled to maintain a stable position pointing towards the Sun.
With less than 40 hours of propellant remaining, the spacecraft is at risk of losing power and tumbling. Astrobotic’s current goal is to bring Peregrine as close to lunar distance as possible before it loses its ability to maintain a Sun-pointing position.
The Exospheric Mass Spectrometer, the first instrument on the Moon developed in the UK and Europe, intended to analyse the thin lunar atmosphere and explore the movement of water on the Moon. Astrobotic is the initial among three US companies attempting to send a spacecraft to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
The UK Space Agency, which provided £14 million in funding for the PITMS instrument through its European Space Agency membership, acknowledged the challenges of space launches and expressed gratitude to the contributors from the Open University and RAL Space. The agency looks forward to the evolving landscape of commercial lunar missions in 2024.