Astrobotic has lost contact with its Peregrine lunar lander over the South Pacific Ocean, ending a troubled moon landing mission.
The company anticipated the lander to “burn up” during re-entry, and it had suffered issues with its propulsion system after launch.
Astrobotic wrote in a statement, “As expected, Astrobotic lost telemetry with the Peregrine spacecraft around 3:50 p.m. ET.”
“While this indicates the vehicle completed its controlled re-entry over open water in the South Pacific at 4:04 p.m., we await independent confirmation from government entities,” the statement continued.
Despite efforts to assess the final trajectory path and minimize debris risk, the lander’s telemetry was lost, and it completed a controlled re-entry over open water.
Astrobotic CEO, John Thornton expressed pride in the team’s efforts and confidence in future missions.
Thornton, said, “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.”
“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,” he continued.
The last U.S. mission to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972.
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