Peregrine, a privately owned spacecraft launched on January 8, 2024, was supposed to attempt the first American moon landing in over 50 years. However, shortly after launch the spacecraft faced an anomaly due to a stuck valve in its propulsion system, which damaged the spacecraft. The spacecraft lost a shocking amount of fuel, and now a lunar landing is impossible, but there is still some hope left.
Failure Is Not (Currently) An Option
It was very terrifying for the mission control team of Peregrine when they learned that the spacecraft was leaking a sufficient amount of fuel into space. But the spacecraft was also losing power as well. The mission team saved Peregrine by pointing its solar panels towards the Sun to keep itself and its 10 different payloads it was carrying, from losing complete power. That was successful,
"We have successfully received data from all 9 payloads designed to communicate with the lander. All 10 payloads requiring power have received it, while the remaining 10 payloads aboard the spacecraft are passive." The Astrobotic team wrote on X.
The spacecraft can also reach the Moon, it just can’t land. Using Earth’s gravity the spacecraft will hopefully shoot itself to the Moon. Peregrine will also be able to use most of its instruments, such as NASA’s five instruments and the radiation detector built by the German Aerospace Center. However, some other spacecraft such Ireland's first moon rover will not be able to be used.