From remains of original Star Trek cast to mystery British-made tool – items on board Nasa’s new Moon mission revealed

THE Peregrine Mission One launched today with a host of unique cargo, two of which have never reached the moon’s surface before.

Peregrine Mission One blasted from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Monday, marking America’s first attempt at a moon landing in 50 years.

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But as we all know, any launch has its hiccups – and Peregrine isn’t immune,

Space experts are currently scrambling to fix an “anomaly” that could jeopardise Nasa’s new moon mission.

Onboard the Vulcan rocket is not only Peregrine, the first commercial lunar lander, but human remains set to be scattered on the moon and the first-ever British-only made tool to ever reach the lunar surface.

The Exospheric Mass Spectrometer

The UK-made Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS) is a critical componant in whats called the ‘Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer’ (PITMS), a Nasa science experiment designed to search for water on the moon.

The use of PITMS will be a historic milestone for the UK’s space industry, as it will be the first UK and European science component to reach the moon.

Speaking to The Sun, the UK’s minister for science Andrew Griffith said: “It’s a fantastic start of what promises to be a really exciting 2024 for UK space.

“We’re seeing British science and British instruments for this mission.”

“Once the EMS is working on the moon, one of its important missions is to see if there can be water in the moon exosphere… then the next step is Mars.”

The exosphere is a thin layer of gases that floats around the moon.

The lander is headed to the so-called “Bay of Stickiness,” better known as Sinus Viscositatis.

This is a lunar feature located in the upper left side of the near side of the moon where scientists believe they could find evidence of water, according to Nasa

“Like British scientists, I will too be biting my nails over the next month to see if ESA has a happy landing on the lunar surface,” added Griffith.

Human remains

The high-stakes mission is also carrying a never-before-seen payload of human ashes, arranged by space memorial service Celestis.

The remains include those of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and members of the original TV series cast.

While the commercial offering of space burials is attractive to some here on Earth, it has received a dose of criticism.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk