WASHINGTON DC — The Peregrine lander, which has spent more than 55 hours in space, is still operational and running out of fuel on a trajectory that will prevent it from reaching the moon, the Astronomical Institute said Wednesday.
The vehicle is approximately 309,000 kilometers (192,000 miles) from Earth and took off on Monday in a successful launch powered by a new Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Peregrine is nearly 80% that distance to the moon, due on February 23.
“Even if we approach lunar distance, there will be no moon. “We are maintaining our nominal path to work,” the company said on X (formerly Twitter).
“Peregrine continues to lose fuel but remains operationally stable and continues to gather valuable information,” the news release added.
Astronomers now estimate that the 1.9 meters (6.2 feet) tall and 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide vehicle will use up all of its fuel in about 35 hours, an improvement over yesterday's estimate.
“The team is working around the clock to develop options that extend the life of the spacecraft,” the agency added.
Aboard the Peregrine One mission, the first U.S. commercial robotic lunar descent, there are twenty payloads from customers including the space agency NASA, five of which are to study the moon's surface, atmosphere, and radiation environment.
There are also five small autonomous 'rovers' that will be Mexico's first lunar mission, and another small explorer vehicle designed by Carnegie Mellon University students, among several private cargoes, including a space funeral home.
Peregrine ran into trouble shortly after liftoff from its launch rocket, but the astrobotic team continues to work on ways to extend the mission.
Peregrine is the first mission of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to accelerate lunar science by placing agency-led experiments on landers and commercial spacecraft.
The program's next mission is scheduled for February, when Houston-based Intuition Engines launches its Nova-C lander aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
