Astrobotic has revealed what will happen to its beleaguered Peregrine spacecraft when it finally shuts down in the coming days.
The Peregrine lunar lander will be unable to do what it says on the tin, though the troubled spacecraft has nevertheless surprised many observers by continuing to fly way longer than expected.
But Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic said on Sunday that it expects its spacecraft to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in the coming days, bringing the troubled mission to a fiery close.
Peregrine marked the first attempt at putting an American lander on the moon since the final Apollo mission in 1972, and was also aiming to become the first private endeavor to achieve the feat.
But a propellant leak shortly after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 8 meant the NASA-backed spacecraft and its 21 payloads would be unable to reach the lunar surface next month, as originally planned.
Over the last week, the team at Astrobotic has been keeping everyone up to date with the latest happenings regarding the beleaguered spacecraft, explaining that the leak had probably been caused by the failure of a valve to reseal itself.
