Just got this email from Astrobotic:
(TL;DR our Writers on the Moon payload will return to Earth)
Dear DHL MoonBox Customers,
Please see below an important update on the Peregrine Mission One’s status.
We will be announcing this status update publicly this evening.
I’d like to take this moment to thank you for all the kind words we’ve been receiving over the last week. Obviously, this is not the outcome we were seeking with this mission, and our team has worked tirelessly to keep the spacecraft mission going for as long as is safely possible.
Sincerely,
Dan Hendrickson
Astrobotic
—Astrobotic Statement for Peregrine Mission One
January 14, 2024
For 16 years, Astrobotic has been dedicated to making the Moon accessible to the world. The responsible preservation of the cislunar space environment for all is top of mind as we complete this mission. Since the Peregrine lunar lander’s anomaly occurred 6 days ago, we have 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.
Working with NASA, we received inputs from the space community and the U.S. Government on 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 re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere. Since this is a commercial mission, the final decision of Peregrine’s final flight path is in our hands. Ultimately, we must balance 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. As such, we have made the difficult decision to maintain the current spacecraft’s trajectory to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. By responsibly ending Peregrine’s mission, we are doing our part to preserve the future of cislunar space for all.
Despite the propulsion system anomaly, the Astrobotic Mission Team has worked tirelessly to stabilize the vehicle, turn on all active payloads, and enable the collection of payload data. The spacecraft has been operating in space for 6 days and 16 hours, and Peregrine continues to leak propellant, but now at a very slow rate. Yesterday afternoon, we test fired one of the main engines for the first time. We achieved a 200 millisecond burn and acquired data that indicated Peregrine could have main engine propulsive capability. 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 team projects that the spacecraft has enough remaining propellant to maintain sun pointing and perform small maneuvers.
Regardless of the anomaly, Astrobotic’s designed and built hardware, avionics, software, and system architectures have all performed as expected in space. All payloads designed to power on and communicate did so, and even achieved science objectives. While we believe it is possible for the spacecraft to operate for several more weeks and could potentially have raised the orbit to miss the Earth, 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 will soon return to Earth’s atmosphere and the vehicle is now about 234,000 miles away. We are working with NASA to continue updating and evaluating the controlled re-entry path of Peregrine. We do not believe Peregrine’s re-entry poses safety risks, and the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. We are validating this through analyses in collaboration with the U.S. Government. We will continue to operate the spacecraft and provide status updates through the end of the mission.
“I am so proud of what our team has accomplished with this mission. 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. I look forward to sharing these, and more remarkable stories, after the mission concludes on January 18. 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,” said Astrobotic CEO, John Thornton
Dan Hendrickson
Vice President of Business Development
Astrobotic
Writers on the Moon,
Obviously, this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, but I do believe Astrobotic is making the responsible choice. As disappointing as this is for us, I can assure you it’s harder on Astrobotic and all the employees trying so hard to make this mission a success. My husband wasn’t directly involved in the mission, but the company as a whole (and even the NASA-funded Commercial Lunar Payload Systems program that paid for Peregrine and most of its payloads) will be impacted. All of that will sort out in the weeks to come.
THE FUTURE OF WOTM
Before the launch, I said that if we lost the payload (as now looks certain, and it won’t be on the Moon), and if I had a chance to buy another payload on another Moon mission, I would take it. And I meant that, but again, the impact of Peregrine on other Astrobotic missions and future opportunities for people like us, commercial non-science payloads, remains to be seen.
This mission really was unique: the first chance for ordinary folks like us to buy a payload to the Moon (via the DHL Moonbox program on Peregrine).
I’ve said multiple times (it’s right in the tag line!) that WOTM is a TIME CAPSULE. We put this together in 2021, a heartfelt communal effort, a burst of hope in dark times, to capture a snapshot of our works and our lives. I’ve discouraged updating the website stories (except broken links) because the stories represent what we put in the time capsule. Now that time capsule will return to Earth to burn up in the atmosphere, which obviously isn’t what we’d set out to do.
What are the options going forward? Unclear, at the moment. I want to maintain the integrity of the project as a *time capsule* (no additional payloads or alterations to the payload). There will be future commercial missions to the Moon, but it’s unclear which will have payloads like DHL MoonBox, which will fly (and of course whether any of those will be successful). Space is hard… and that doesn’t change just because we’re part of the commercial space program.
What I do know: Peregrine was the first commercial Moon lander attempt, and thus we’ll always be part of that special bit of history. It was also a hell of a ride! People all over the world were watching and rooting for little Peregrine, and impressed by the derring-do of the Astrobotic Mission Control Crew.
Even without reaching the Moon, Peregrine Mission One still moved our hearts: we, a bunch of ordinary Earthlings, took part in the grand adventure of space exploration.
That’s something that doesn’t burn up on re-entry.
Right now, the WOTM website is the only record of what we attempted. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be focused on supporting my hubby and his fellow Astrobots as they bring Peregrine home, conduct their investigation into the anomaly, and deal with all the emotions and practical outcomes of the mission.
When WOTM has another opportunity to fly to the Moon, in a way that fits the original mission, I will let you know.
Until then, it’s been a pleasure and a joy to take this ride with you,
Sue
RIP Peregrine