Failed Peregrine Lunar mission concludes with a Free Return to Earth for disposal

Written by Copernical Team Saturday, 20 January 2024 05:03

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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 18, 2024

NASA's collaborative mission with Astrobotic, featuring the Peregrine lunar lander, has concluded with the spacecraft reentering Earth's atmosphere. This event marks the end of a mission that, while not achieving a lunar landing, provided some scientific data and insights. The Peregrine lander, carrying a suite of NASA science and technology instruments, safely reentered Earth's atmosphere

Failed Peregrine Lunar mission concludes with a Free Return to Earth for disposal
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 18, 2024

NASA's collaborative mission with Astrobotic, featuring the Peregrine lunar lander, has concluded with the spacecraft reentering Earth's atmosphere. This event marks the end of a mission that, while not achieving a lunar landing, provided some scientific data and insights.

The Peregrine lander, carrying a suite of NASA science and technology instruments, safely reentered Earth's atmosphere over a remote area of the South Pacific. This planned trajectory, decided upon by Astrobotic in coordination with NASA and other government agencies, was chosen to minimize risks and ensure a controlled and safe reentry, avoiding any ground hazards.

Originally intended for a lunar landing, the mission's objectives shifted when Astrobotic confirmed that Peregrine Mission One would not achieve this goal. In response, NASA science teams adapted their procedures to gather data from space near the Moon.

All powered NASA payloads successfully collected data, including the Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS), Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS), Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), and the Peregrine Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS). The Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), a passive experiment designed for the lunar surface, was unable to conduct operations during the mission.

Despite the need for further analysis, initial results are promising. The collected data provides insights into the radiation environment and chemical compounds around the lander, indicating that the instruments withstood the harsh conditions of space.

NSS and LETS experiments gathered measurements of the radiation environment in interplanetary space, around both Earth and the Moon. These instruments analyzed different components of the radiation spectrum, offering a comprehensive view of galactic cosmic ray activity and space weather influenced by solar activity.

The PITMS, a collaborative effort between NASA, The Open University, RAL Space, and the European Space Agency (ESA), performed admirably during the mission. It successfully acquired multiple mass spectra, both before and after its protective dust cover was opened. This data confirms the instrument's good health and its capability to measure lunar volatile compounds on future missions.

Furthermore, NIRVSS also powered on and collected valuable data, including images and spectra around the lander. Detected chemical compounds in the NIRVSS spectra are currently attributed to lander outgassing and leaked fuel. The mission also provided an opportunity to refine data capturing processes at low data rates, enhancing NASA's future capabilities in mapping the lunar surface.