The lunar module Pilgrim returns to Earth, but to disintegrate forever along with all the objects it was carrying, from NASA scientific tools to the mortal remains of former US presidents. The device suffered a breakdown after the rocket Vulcan He set him on his way to his destination on January 8. This “anomaly,” as defined by the American company Astrobotic, initially prevented its ship from being powered by sunlight. But after fixing that mishap, the company discovered the real problem: a fuel leak in its damaged propulsion system that prevented it from achieving its objective. It could no longer become the first private module to make a soft landing on the Moon, nor be the first American spacecraft to do so since 1972. Astrobotic and NASA now announce, a week after the launch, that they will crash the Pilgrim against the Earth’s atmosphere so that it doesn’t become an annoying piece of space junk.
“Working with NASA, we have received input from the space community and the US Government on the safest and most responsible course of action to complete the Peregrino mission. The recommendation we have received is to allow the spacecraft to disintegrate during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere,” explains Astrobotic in a statement. “We must balance our own desire to extend the life of Pilgrim 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 spacecraft’s current trajectory for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.”
The vehicle, which is currently about 375,000 kilometers from Earth, will fall on Thursday the 18th against the Earth’s shield, expected to be north of Australia. according to some calculations. “We do not believe that the reentry of Pilgrim represents security risks,” says Astrobotic. The company planned to hold a joint press conference with NASA on Thursday, January 18, to report on the evolution of the mission. The devices traveling on board the ship, from different institutions around the world, have managed to turn on and transmit without problems, and would have been able to fulfill their function had they arrived safely.
Among the 20 payloads carried by the ship, in addition to scientific artifacts, there are symbolic objects, such as a time capsule with messages from 80,000 children from around the world. Other more controversial objects also travel: the mortal remains of dozens of humans sent by the American space burial company Elysium Space, such as those of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, and three United States presidents: George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. All these remains will vaporize against the atmosphere.
This setback occurs in the midst of an intense space race towards the Moon that shows how the winning axis is shifting towards new actors. The United States has not landed on the Moon for five decades, Russia crashed its ship a few months ago and private attempts in recent years, by Israel and Japan, also failed. Meanwhile, in the last decade, China has successfully landed three devices and India just achieved it.
The Peregrino-1 mission, which involved several companies, is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, which is part of the program’s return to the Moon plan. Artemis, in which the US, Europe, Japan and other countries collaborate. This mission is only the first of ten CLPS scheduled for the near future.
Next month it will be another private company, Intuitive Machines (of Houston), that will launch a lunar lander aboard a SpaceX rocket. But first, one day after disintegrating Pilgrim, Japan will attempt to land its SLIM spacecraft on the moon on January 19, a Japanese Space Agency lander that was launched in September. If successful, Japan will become the fifth country to make a soft landing on the Moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States, India and China.
“Every success and setback is an opportunity to learn and grow. We will use this lesson to boost our efforts to advance the science, exploration and commercial development of the Moon,” reacted Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, after learning of the failure of Pilgrim. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stressed after the launch that these missions of the CPLS initiative “will help understand the evolution of our solar system and shape human exploration for the Artemis program.”
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