US lunar lander facing failure after losing fuel
An historic private mission to land on the Moon was facing near-certain failure on Monday after the spacecraft suffered a "critical loss" of fuel, in a major blow to America's hopes of placing its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades. Fixed to the top of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan rocket, Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander blasted off overnight from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, then successfully separated from its launch vehicle. A few hours later, Astrobotic began reporting technical malfunctions, starting with an inability to orient Peregrine's top-mounted solar panel towards the Sun and keep its onboard battery topped up, owing to a malfunction in its propulsion system. Though engineers found a way to tilt the spacecraft in the right direction thanks to an "improvised manoeuvre," the company then posted that the propulsion system failure appeared to be the cause of a "critical loss of propellant." "The team is working to try and stabilise this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritised maximising the science and data we can capture," Astrobotic tweeted. "We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time," it added, an apparent admission that the Peregrine would not touch down on the Moon as planned. Peregrine was supposed to reach the Moon, then maintain an orbit for several weeks before touching down on a mid-latitude region called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on February 23. (AFP)