Peregrine only has hours left, its fuel leaking away
According to a number of recent updates by Astrobotic, its Peregrine lunar lander only only a few more hours of life left, its fuel leaking away due to the failure of a valve to close inside its oxygen tank.
Astrobotic’s current hypothesis about the Peregrine spacecraft’s propulsion anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization. This led to a rush of high pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank.
The company also noted that the Vulcan rocket did no harm to the spacecraft during launch, placing it in the correct orbit. The tank rupture however means it will not land on the Moon, and in fact is likely not going to escape Earth orbit. Sometime in the next day or so the spacecraft will run out of fuel, and at that point it will be fly out of control, its batteries draining because the solar panels will no longer point to the Sun.
How this failure will impact Astrobotic’s next and larger lander, Griffin, remains unknown. It is presently scheduled to land on the Moon in November 2024.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
According to a number of recent updates by Astrobotic, its Peregrine lunar lander only only a few more hours of life left, its fuel leaking away due to the failure of a valve to close inside its oxygen tank.
Astrobotic’s current hypothesis about the Peregrine spacecraft’s propulsion anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization. This led to a rush of high pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank.
The company also noted that the Vulcan rocket did no harm to the spacecraft during launch, placing it in the correct orbit. The tank rupture however means it will not land on the Moon, and in fact is likely not going to escape Earth orbit. Sometime in the next day or so the spacecraft will run out of fuel, and at that point it will be fly out of control, its batteries draining because the solar panels will no longer point to the Sun.
How this failure will impact Astrobotic’s next and larger lander, Griffin, remains unknown. It is presently scheduled to land on the Moon in November 2024.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Is it a general practice to build twin space craft in the event of a failure?
And is there another one waiting in the wings?
Cotour: This has been done sometimes in the past, but for private companies the extra cost is too much. Griffin is not a duplicate of Peregrine, but a larger more complex lander.
Makes sense, government has unlimited capital and private companies must exist in the real world.
Astrobotic has been extremely transparent about the flight issues, which helps build and maintain trust. I know imagine they have some parts for a second lander but not sure if they have a complete engineering model, per se, that could be utilized. At Quub we build duplicates, but our systems are inexpensive enough to be able to afford that addition.
I am confident they will work out the issues and launch again.
Speaking of transparency:
During the pre-launch ULA livestream of the Vulcan launch, there was a piece by Astrobotics about Peregrine and Astrobotics plans. They showed that their manufacturing building is on Lincoln Ave in Pittsburg and shares the building with the Moonshot Museum. Visitors to the museum can look through a large picture window into the clean room and see the landers being built.
Made me want to go to Pittsburgh.
Doubting Thomas – Go! The facility is just down the road from the Steeler’s stadium. It is well worth the trip. I was there assisting with a component on the lander and the facility was amazing. A great example of what a space company should look like.
Joe–
What are the top 2-3 costs you have to deal with??
Wayne – The top costs for our work are:
1 – Launch Services: Unless you are buying in bulk, this is still pretty expensive. In some cases almost $50/Kg.
2 – Regulatory filing: FCC, NOAA, FAA, etc. You need specialists to even try to get through all the paperwork.
3 – Insurance: Pre-Launch, Launch, Operations, Collision have to be considered based on the mission.
4 – Legal: At one point I had more lawyers than employees.
I know that is more than three but these are the pain points for a startup.
Mr. Zimmerman:
The Peregrine lander does you not use oxygen as oxidizer as you propose. The lander carries 450 kg (990 lb) of bi-propellant mass in four tanks; its composition is MON-25 /MMH, a hypergolic bi-propellant. For attitude control (orientation), the spacecraft uses twelve thrusters (45 N each) also powered by MON-25/MMH. MON-25 is the oxidizer, MMH (a kind of hydrazine) is the fuel. For clarification: Oxidizer and fuel combined are the propellant.
As it seems, the S/C does not loss fuel as you say, but oxidizer (MON-25, a mixture of N2O4 and NO).
I ask for corrections.
Questioner: My post needs no correction. I was quoting the company’s own press release, which clearly suggests the problem started in the inner helium tank inside a tank filled with “oxidizer.” Thus, an oxygen tank, or some variation.
Mr. Zimmerman: I’m sorry, but you didn’t understand what I said above. I’ll summarize it again:
A: There is no oxygen tank in the lander.
B: There is no fuel leak. Instead, oxidizer comes out (note: this is the substance needed to burn the fuel.)
Starliner had some sticky valves. Another spacecraft recently had one or more valves that reacted slower than expected, although I do not recall which one that was. I’m not sure what is happening, these past few years, that is causing valves to be sticky or slow. I do not remember these problems in past years. Why now? Why all of a sudden?
_________________
Joe,
Thank you for the expense report. I was not expecting the legal costs to be so high. When I am asked what it costs for a geostationary commercial communication satellite, my answer is $100 million for the satellite, $100 million for the launch, and $50 million for the insurance. The true numbers depend upon the specific satellite, of course, but the order of magnitude has been correct for decades.
Edward asked in connection with the recent cases of valve problems on spacecraft, “I do not remember these problems in past years. Why now? Why all of a sudden?”
The answer is obvious and I am surprised it did not occur to you. Global warming!
What was I thinking? Of course it is global warming! It explains so much.
We only have six years left, according to … I don’t remember which of them said it, back in 2018.