Failed Peregrine One Lunar Lander On Course For Earthly Disintegration

Rather than entering lunar orbit next week for a planned Moon landing in late February, the space vehicle carrying the ashes of Gene Roddenberry and half the cast of the original Star Trek TV series will burn up this week on re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. Astrobotic’s Peregrine One lander has aborted its lunar mission after a 238,000-mile flight that crossed the path of the Moon’s orbit.

According to the company, as reported on the Inverse website, “We must balance our own desire to extend Peregrine's life, operate payloads, and learn more about the spacecraft, with the risk that our damaged spacecraft could cause a problem in cislunar space.”

Astrobotic believes that shortly after takeoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the valve separating the Peregrine One lander’s helium propellant and oxygenator tanks stuck open. The lander needs to balance its supply of oxygen and propellant to operate properly, and the stuck valve made that not possible. Astrobotic said in a statement, “While this is a working theory, a full analysis report will be produced by a formal review board made up of industry experts after the mission is complete. All available data is being downloaded from the lander to support this assessment.”

NASA, other U.S. government agencies and members of “the space community” recommended that Astrobotic initiate the return to Earth for the Peregrine One lander. Astrobotic agreed, to ensure the lander did not become a menace to future lunar navigation as a potentially dangerous piece of “space junk” that would menace both the Moon and the Earth.

NASA and Astrobotic are monitoring the return flight of the Peregrine One lander and assure the public there will be no danger on the Earth’s surface as the craft disintegrates in the Earth’s atmosphere “dozens of miles” up. The ashes of Roddenberry and three Star Trek actors are on board, along with the remains of sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke and DNA samples from several former U.S. presidents. According to reporting, some of the ashes were intended to be buried on the Moon, while others were destined to be launched into deep space.

While the cargo of human remains was most noteworthy in the media, the Peregrine One also carries NASA instrumentation, robots associated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Mexican Space Agency, and a lunar rover from Carnegie Mellon University.