ANTARIKSA — Astrobotic finally confirmed that its spacecraft, Peregrine, had disintegrated and crashed in the South Pacific after burning violently in the earth’s atmosphere on Friday, January 19 2024. The plane, which was supposed to land on the lunar surface, was forced to turn around due to damage to its fuel tank. .
The mission team on Earth directed Peregrine to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and fall just south of the Pacific Ocean starting at 4.00 WIB. The place is considered safe for disposing of space waste because it is far from residential areas.
However, shortly before entering the atmosphere at 3.50 WIB, Peregrine disappeared from the mission monitor. At that time, Astrobotic could not confirm Peregrine’s further fate and was awaiting independent confirmation from a US government entity.
Confirmation then emerged on Friday afternoon. “This afternoon, Astrobotic received independent confirmation of Peregrine’s safe and controlled re-entry in the South Pacific,” Astrobotic wrote in the final press release of the Peregrine mission.
Also read: Shortly before the Earth’s atmosphere burned up, the plane carrying human remains disappeared
Astrobotic said the Peregrine mission had been completed and it would now focus on its next mission to the Moon, namely Griffin Mission One. Peregrine was indeed the first mission contracted by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
NASA’s goal is to accelerate the development of lunar science by partnering with a number of private companies, one of which is Astrobotic. Griffin will be CLPS’ second program with Astrobotic.
“All the hard-won experience of the past 10 days in space as well as the previous years of designing, building and testing Peregrine will be directly useful for the Griffin mission,” Astrobotic said.
Peregrine has become the new controversial space sector. Of its 20 types of payload, it carries commemorative capsules belonging to two space burial companies, Celestis and Elysium Space. The contents of the capsule are human remains. Meanwhile, the main payload is five NASA science instruments.
Also read: Today, the plane carrying human remains will fall to Earth in a burning condition
The fate of Peregrine’s cargo
Astrobotic’s vice president of business development, Dan Hendrickson, said their customers already knew all the challenges and risks of lunar missions. After all, putting a spacecraft on the moon is extremely difficult.
“When they come to the negotiating table, they implicitly understand that, but we’re not taking any risks,” he said.
Astrobotic, he said, has outlined and explained all these challenges and risks as they really are. “And what is thankful is, they are still registering (as customers),” said Hendrickson. Source: Astrobotic/Space.com
2024-01-19 23:33:00
#Astrobotic #Confirms #Plane #Carrying #Human #Remains #Crashed #South #Pacific #Space #Space
