NASA’S Peregrine lunar lander is expected to turn into a fireball in Earth’s atmosphere today, following a failed mission to the moon.
The lunar lander had been history in the making, and was the US’ first attempt at a moon landing in 50 years.
2
2
The spacecraft carried the remains of the original Star Trek cast to be scattered on the moon – a commercial funerary service that had never been done before.
However, Peregrine failed to reach lunar orbit following a critical fuel leak just hours after its launch on January 8, and eventually turned back towards Earth.
Now the crippled moon lander is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at 9pm GMT (4pm ET) over a patch of the South Pacific ocean, according Astrobotic, the company that built it.
“Astrobotic has positioned the Peregrine spacecraft for a safe, controlled re-entry to Earth over a remote area of the South Pacific,” the company wrote in a statement.
READ MORE ON SPACE
“The team has been continuously monitoring our re-entry analysis with Nasa,” Astrobotic added.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic said it adjusted the spacecraft’s orientation so the force induced by the leaking propellant shifted Peregrine away from civilisation and towards the ocean.
The lunar lander is set to burn up as it penetrates Earth’s atmosphere – which will appear like a shooting star.
Unfortunately, there is only a small chance those on the coast of South America, or even New Zealand, will be able to see it as turns into a fireball in the sky.
Most read in Tech
At the time it is forecast to pass over the region, the sky will likely be too light to spot it.
The 1.2 tonne Peregrine lander was initially expected to arrive on the Moon on February 23.
Onboard the spacecraft are a host of scientific experiments, as well as the ashes of the original Star Trek cast and the DNA of former US president John F. Kennedy.
Astrobotic also packed the lunar lander with a chip of rock from Mount Everest and toy-size cars from Mexico.
Beyond that, Peregrine is also carrying a British-made tool, known as the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (ESA), that was designed to help search for water in the Moon’s exosphere.
The exosphere is a thin layer of gases that floats around the Moon.
It would have been the first tool solely made in the UK to ever reach the Moon, and a flagstone for Britain’s space industry.
Find out more about science
Want to know more about the weird and wonderful world of science? From the Moon to the human body, we have you covered…
