Nasa delays moon missions as Peregrine falters mid-flight
NASA has delayed its next two missions to the moon by around a year after discovering several technical issues with its spacecraft.
Artemis II, which will be the first crewed voyage to conduct a lunar flyby since the Apollo programme ended more than 50 years ago, has been pushed back from late 2024 to September 2025.
Meanwhile, Artemis III, which will see a crew of astronauts, potentially including a Brit, land on the moon, has been delayed by a year to September 2026.
Yesterday, Bill Nelson, the Nasa administrator, explained: “Safety is our top priority and to give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first time developments, operations and integration, we’re going to give more time on Artemis II and III.”
The delays come after scientists announced the stricken Peregrine lunar lander has “no chance” of landing on the Moon after springing a propellant leak in the first few hours of its journey in space.
Astrobotic, the private company hoping to land the first American asset on the Moon in 50 years, said there is some fuel left on the lander that will allow it to operate “as a spacecraft,” while engineers determine what its new mission in orbit will be. Scientists had earlier admitted the lander was just hours away from an “uncontrollable tumble”.
Peregrine, which was scheduled to land on the Moon in late February, has under two days of power left after a “propulsion anomaly” caused an issue to develop with its solar panels.
Engineers said they were racing to steer the lander “as close to lunar distance” as possible before they lose control of it.
NASA is working with 11 private contractors as part of the Artemis project, including Mr Musk’s Spacex which won the contract for a landing system for Artemis III based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket. Both of Starship’s orbital tests have so far ended in explosions.
Jessica Jensen, Spacex vice president, said during yesterday’s press conference that Starship’s third test is expected to be carried out next month.
She also said the company was planning an uncrewed landing on the moon using Starship in 2025.
Its first mission, an uncrewed test flight to the Moon and back called Artemis I, took place in 2022, after several postponements.
One “major finding” from the test was a technical issue which saw part of the heat shield “charring” and coming away from the vehicle.
Amit Kshatriya, of Nasa’s Moon to Mars program, said if this had occurred with crew on board they would not have been in danger but the team was investigating the “unexpected phenomena”.
He also cited a “design flaw” related to the Artemis III electronics which affect the life support system, as well as issues with some of the batteries.
Peregrine was expected to land on the Moon’s northern hemisphere on Feb 23, carrying the hair of former US presidents including John F Kennedy, George Washington, and Dwight Eisenhower.