Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer returns to Earth after eventful mission phys.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from phys.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Despite the conclusion of the Peregrine lunar lander mission, Astrobotic is proud of how its spacecraft performed and is looking forward to its next flight.
A crippled American spaceship has been lost over a remote region of the South Pacific, probably burning up in the atmosphere in a fiery end to its failed mission to land on the Moon.
Ten days after its launch, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander fell back to Earth today, ending a trip to the moon’s orbital distance and back that was doomed by a propellant leak. The mission began auspiciously on the night of Oct. 7-8 with a seemingly successful liftoff from Florida on United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket, powered by Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engines. But hours after launch, the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic team detected a problem with the propulsion system. So