NASA's Peregrine faces malfunction and will likely not 'soft land' on the moon

The first US mission in 50 years aimed at a “soft landing” on the Moon was hanging by a thread last night after a critical propulsion system malfunction left the Peregrine lunar lander unable to point its “solar array” at the Sun to generate the power needed to complete its touchdown. While 2024 has already been dubbed the Year of the Moon by many in the space business, with more than 10 missions, one crewed, headed to Earth’s nearest satellite, it appeared increasingly unlikely the ill-fated 1.2-tonne lander would not be among them.

Earlier, a successful launch of the new Vulcan rocket system from Cape Canaveral in Florida had boded well for the most exciting year for lunar exploration since the first human landing in 1969.

America was finally returning to the Moon more than 50 years after it last achieved the task with Apollo 17 in 1972.

Back then, as Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, stepped off the lunar soil he laid down a challenge to future generations to return. “As I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future…And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return.”

But Peregrine’s mission was last night in doubt. Shortly after launch, the lander experienced technical problems and was unable to orient its solar panels towards the Sun to charge its batteries. Without a constant supply of sunshine to generate electricity, it will run out of power before it can land. US-based Astrobotic revealed Peregrine Mission One (PM1) had suffered a failure within the propulsion system following the launch.

Astrobotic said in a statement: “Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant. The team is working to try to stabilise this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritised maximising the science and data we can capture.”

Peregrine had been due to land on a lunar dome on the western edge of Mare Imbrium – The Sea of Rains – next month. Now it appears unlikely.

But other missions remain viable. Just next week, Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) mission, launched in September, aims to touch-down and prospect in the crater Shioli near the Moon’s equatorial region. If successful, Japan will become the fifth country, after Russia, the US, China and India, to soft-land on the Moon. It is the start of an armada.

Peregrine – the first US lander built by a private company – was sent on its way by a powerful new Vulcan rocket on which rests the commercial hopes of America’s United Launch Alliance (ULA). The company was founded in 2006 by the merger of Lockheed Martin and Boeing to build boosters in competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Ariane 6 – Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket due for its maiden flight later this year. Watching the Vulcan Centaur launch earlier, ULA’s cowboy hat-wearing CEO, Tory Bruno, shouted: “Yeehaw! I am so thrilled. I am so proud of this team. Oh my gosh, this has been years of hard work.”

Despite yesterday’s setback, he hopes that within two years his firm might have enough orders to launch almost every day. Because of its energy-conserving looping route to the Moon, Peregrine was not due to land until February 23. It was due to have targeted a smooth lava plain known as Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness – referring to the volcanic material that formed nearby hills. Peregrine carries a mini-robot to scout for water ice, an advanced antenna system to test new methods of lunar communications, a retroreflector off which to bounce laser beams to measure the moon’s orbit, and a surface sensor to provide what lunar geologists call ground truth, “helping us better prepare to send crewed missions back to the Moon,” said Paul Niles, Nasa’s project scientist for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme.

In addition, several Mexican-built mini-bots will be catapulted away from the main craft to extend its range of measurements.

But Peregrine has courted controversy with its consignment of cremated human remains. Two companies have small capsules on Peregrine, one of which contains the DNA of British science-fiction writer Arthur C Clarke who wrote 2001 A Space Odyssey.

It will also contain many time capsules, including a chip of lurid novels by self-published Canadian authors. It had been due to operate for about 10 days on the Moon’s surface until the region is plunged into lunar night, when it will be too cold for instruments. Should it reach the surface, Peregrine will soon be joined by many others.

Later this year the US company Intuitive Machines will send a probe to land on the rim of a crater at the lunar south pole, in a land of eternal shadows on which the Sun never leaves the horizon.

The rim of Malapert crater forms an irregular ring of peaks around the interior floor. Its western side is overlain by impact craters that flank its interior, whose details are perpetually hidden by shadows. And it is in those shadows that previous observations from lunar orbit suggest there is water-ice.

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is designed to operate for a lunar day – equivalent to about 14 Earth days.

The resurgence of lunar exploration this year has been several years in the planning. Many of the missions this year are part of Nasa’s CLPS initiative: Commercial Lunar Payload Services. It seeks to achieve scientific and technological goals to support the forthcoming human landing by commissioning private companies who are keen to develop their expertise and presence in a growing space economy.

In May, China will achieve another first on the Moon when its Chang’e-6 will attempt to return samples from the far side of the Moon. It has already become the first nation to land a probe and a rover on the Moon’s far side. But landing on the Moon is not easy, as many nations have found out.

The final moments before touch-down are always the most crucial. Last year there were two failed attempts, one by a Japan-based company and another by Russia. India succeeded but had previously failed, as did Israel and Japan. So far, only the former USSR, America, China and India have had successful touch-downs.

The Blue Ghost lunar lander is also slated for this year. It will land at Mare Crisium – the Sea of Crises – to gather data about the Moon’s regolith as well as the interaction between particles coming from the sun and the way they affect the surface. It will also carry out experiments to test radiation-tolerant electronics. Reliable equipment able to withstand a high radiation environment will be essential to ensure the safety of crews in space, especially on the Moon or during a three-year mission to Mars.

One of the most eagerly awaited surface missions is set for November. Viper (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) is Nasa’s rover about the size of a golf cart that will move among the south-pole shadows traversing a rugged plateau where it will drill at many locations looking for water-ice. It is designed to be self-steering and able to spend long periods in the shadows as well as explore the walls and floors of small craterlets. As well as landers, new orbiters will begin to circle the moon. The Lunar Trailblazer Orbiter will be deployed during Intuitive Machines’ second landing mission, scheduled for mid-year. It will map lunar water to determine how much may be trapped in the eternal shadows, and provide data for future explorers. Orbiters are being sent from Canada, Germany, Singapore and Finland.

The climax of the year will be the four-person Artemis 2 mission planned for November. For the first time since Apollo 17 humans will venture beyond low-earth orbit and return to the vicinity of the Moon. During a 20-day mission, the crew will fly-by the Moon, testing its systems for a landing sometime in the next few years.

Whatever happens to the Peregrine lander, by the end of the year so much more will be known about the Moon – and with Nasa’s Artemis 3 slated for next year we’re due to see, for the first time in more than half a century, astronauts again walk on its surface.