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The first US-built lunar lander since the days of Apollo is leaking fuel — and it could put the entire mission at risk.
Peregrine Mission One, a lunar lander built by Astrobotic, started leaking fuel hours after it launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Monday.
“Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant,” the company said in an update Monday afternoon.
Now the team is trying to figure out if there are “alternative mission profiles” for the lander, in order to focus on “maximizing the science and data we can capture.”
In other words, the moon landing is in jeopardy.
Peregrine Mission One is a nearly 2,900-pound uncrewed lander that carries 20 payloads from seven countries and 16 companies.
The lander was not just the first lander built in the US since Grumman built the Apollo Lunar Module, but also the first shot at the moon for a number of countries.
The lander carries the first lunar surface payloads for the German and Mexican space agencies, and the first lunar payloads from the United Kingdom, Hungary, and the Seychelles, Astrobotic said in a press release.
“One payload, DHL MoonBox, contains mementos and messages from over 100,000 individuals around the world,” the company said.
The lander took off on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket early Monday and successfully separated in space. But after powering up, an “anomaly” occurred with Peregrine’s propulsion system that kept it from pointing towards the sun, Astrobotic said.
The lander’s batteries started to die, so the team had to improvise a maneuver to get the lander’s solar panels pointed toward the sun. It worked, but the fuel leak appears to be dire.
“The team is working to try and stabilize this loss” of fuel, Astrobotic said.