Going To The Moon
Being able to go to the moon is something that is beautiful, yet very risky at the same time. Many private spacecraft companies have attempted to go to the moon, yet they also have encountered many preventatives. Therefore, this would be a historic moment for this spacecraft company if this mission had succeeded the way they had planned. However, things took a very horrible turn for the spacecraft, which may in turn prevent this mission from being successful. However, this turn is not entirely mission-ending, as this can still be successful if the correct measures are taken to combat this.
What Exactly Happened?
There seemed to have been an issue with the spacecraft, however it is not entirely disastrous for the mission itself. “Astrobotic Technology, the company that developed the first lunar lander to launch from the United States in five decades, said its spacecraft has suffered “critical” propellant loss attempting to correct itself after running into a major issue in space,” according to CNN News. Therefore, workers at this institution had to scramble and work fast if they wanted to continue this historic mission. However, things are still looking still very slim for the spacecraft itself.
Generating Power For The Spacecraft
In order to generate power for the spacecraft to fully operate, they need to utilize solar power. However, power was very low, as the spacecraft was not receiving any type of solar generated power. After some time, engineers were finally able to orient solar power to be generated by the spacecraft.
However, since the spacecraft was trying to fix itself and the propulsion system, it suffered a huge loss of propellant, and the levels were critically low, to the point where the mission had to be cancelled. “It appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant. The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture. We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time,” according to CBS News.
Therefore, as aforementioned, they are trying to figure out another mission alternative, as reaching the moon may not be possible as of this time. However, they are constantly learning and adapting to the difficulties that they encounter, and work to perfect those for the next launch.
Private Spacecraft Institution
Being a private spacecraft institution comes with a lot of difficulties and hardships. There are other private spacecraft institutions that suffered the same fate as of recently as well.
“That said, NASA officials have stressed that each CLPS mission is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. No private spacecraft has ever landed successfully on the moon, after all, so some failures along the way are to be expected,” according to Space.com.
There were attempts by the Israelis, as well as the Japanese to launch a rocket into space. However, both of these attempts failed, and crash-landed as a result. Therefore, this certainly would have been historic if they had succeeded with this, but mistakes were bound to be made, but there is always an opportunity to learn.
The Future of Spacecraft
Despite the current setback, it can be said with certainty that they will continue to strive to make a moon landing within the near future. However, everything takes time. It will certainly take time to reconstruct a rocket to make sure it does not fail again.
This is not something that should be frowned upon. Instead, this should be a learning experience, where everything can be perfected for a successful moon landing mission.
Written by David Loran Jr
Sources:
CNN News: Lunar lander suffers ‘critical’ fuel loss in major setback while en route to the moon
CBS News: Astrobotic’s privately built moon lander suffers potentially crippling anomaly after launch
Space.com: Private Peregrine moon lander suffers ‘critical’ fuel loss after launch, mission at risk
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Grzegorz Jereczek’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Terrazzo’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
