First US lunar lander in more than 50 years rockets toward moon with commercial deliveries

[mystery-ak]

By MARCIA DUNN
Updated 8:14 AM CST, January 8, 2024

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first U.S. lunar lander in more than 50 years rocketed to space Monday, launching a race for private companies to deliver experiments and other items to the moon.

Astrobotic Technology’s lander caught a ride on a brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan. The Vulcan streaked through the Florida predawn sky, putting the spacecraft on a roundabout route to the moon that should culminate with an attempted landing on Feb. 23.

“We are on our way to the moon!” Astrobotic chief executive John Thornton said.

The Pittsburgh company aims to be the first private business to successfully land on the moon, something only four countries have accomplished. But a Houston company also has a lander ready to fly, and could beat it to the lunar surface, taking a more direct path.

more w/video
https://apnews.com/article/moon-landing-launch-private-nasa-0987b31b201b78c3935f1bfbf9a7cade

[Elderberry]

Astrobotic's privately built moon lander suffers potentially crippling anomaly after launch

CBS News by William Harwood 1/8/2024

After a successful launch early Monday, engineers checking out the robotic Peregrine moon lander ran into problems keeping the spacecraft properly oriented, a potentially crippling issue for the first U.S. lunar lander since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago.

In a brief statement, spacecraft builder Astrobotic said initial checkout and activation of Peregrine's systems following separation from United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan rocket went well.

"Astrobotic-built avionics systems, including the primary command and data handling unit, as well as the thermal, propulsion and power controllers, all powered on and performed as expected," the Pittsburgh-based company reported.

"Unfortunately, an anomaly occurred, which prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation. The team is responding in real time as the situation unfolds and will be providing updates as data is obtained and analyzed."

In a second update, the company said engineers believe the likely cause of the sun-pointing issue is "a propulsion anomaly that, if proven true, threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft-land on the moon."

More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/astrobotic-moon-lander-anomaly-after-launch/

[Hoodat]

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?

-D. Bowie-

[240B]

Peregrine moon lander carrying human remains doomed after 'critical loss' of propellant

Livescience.com
By Ben Turner
1 day ago

The first U.S. spacecraft to attempt a soft landing on the moon in more than 50 years has experienced a "critical loss of propellant," dooming its mission.

The Peregrine spacecraft, owned by the private American company Astrobotic Technology, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Vulcan rocket at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT) yesterday (Jan. 8).

Yet just six hours into the flight, the private moon mission experienced technical difficulties that prevented the Peregrine spacecraft from turning its solar panels toward the sun. As Peregrine's battery dwindled, engineers found a fix that enabled them to tilt the craft and charge the panels.

But a fourth update from the team delivered dire news: The spacecraft had sprung a leak, causing it to lose the necessary rocket fuel for a moon landing.

(more)
https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/peregrine-moon-lander-may-be-doomed-after-critical-loss-of-propellant

[Kamaji]

“Anomaly” is one way to gussy up “sprung a leak”.

[Smokin Joe]

Righty tighty....

[Elderberry]

Former SpaceX engineers explain how the US's first moon landing mission in decades may have gone wrong and how to prevent similar anomalies

Business Insider by Jenny McGrath Jan 11, 2024

•   Space company Astrobotic's lunar lander won't reach the moon after a fuel leak.

•   Two former SpaceX employees explained how to prevent and troubleshoot anomalies during missions.

•   Most space companies don't operate like SpaceX does, they said, which can lead to mistakes.


Astrobotic's lunar lander Peregrine won't make it to the moon following a fuel leak. The NASA-backed mission was meant to be the first time a private company's spacecraft landed on the moon.

Astrobotic, which built Peregrine, theorized that a valve connecting two tanks failed. Pressurized helium leaked into an oxidizer tank, which burst. Though it won't reach the moon, the lander continues to collect data while it still has power.

This is far from the first time a private space company has experienced an anomaly.

Two former SpaceX engineers told Business Insider that space companies that invest heavily in testing and robust software processes tend to be successful and learn from their failures.

Karthik Gollapudi is a cofounder of Sift, a startup that helps space companies analyze their data and automate tasks, and Jason Hunter is its lead mission manager.

While Gollapudi and Hunter don't know how Astrobotic tests its vehicles, Gollapudi said the reason he started Sift was because of issues he saw across the space industry.

Companies would build and test the propulsion, solar array, and other systems separately, then test them all together when the vehicle was fully assembled. "And sometimes you run into mistakes doing that," he said.

More: https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-astrobotic-peregrine-anomaly-sift-error-software-testing-2024-1