Peregrine lunar module will disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere this Thursday (18) – 01/18/2024 – Science
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The American lunar module that failed to reach the Moon due to a fuel leak during the flight will end up disintegrating in the Earth’s atmosphere this Thursday (18).
The startup Astrobotic, which developed the device, positioned the landing module “for a controlled re-entry” over the waters of the South Pacific, the company reported on X (formerly Twitter).
Called Peregrine, the module was about 48,000 kilometers from Earth this morning, added the company, which published a photo taken from the device, showing the planet from a distance.
The Peregrine took off early last week from Florida, but a fuel leak was quickly detected that prevented its landing. However, it continued operating in space, gathering useful flight data for a future attempt and even allowing experiments on board.
The company was forced to evaluate how to complete the mission taking into account the uncertainties related to the leak and without generating problems for satellites in Earth orbit or debris in lunar orbit.
This weekend, it announced that it had made “the difficult decision” to maintain a trajectory that would take the module back to Earth.
“We do not believe that Peregrine’s return poses any safety risk and the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,” the company said.
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