While India’s Chandrayaan-3 made historic touchdown on the Moon, the mission failure feared for private US Moon lander. In a big setback for US space agency – NASA, a historic attempt to send a lander to the moon after 50 years has failed.
Astrobotic Technology, the private company that developed Peregrine, announced that it was abandoning its goal of landing a spacecraft on the moon. This soft landing attempt on the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972, which was also the inaugural lunar landing attempt by a private company, ended in failure. The mission's objectives are currently being revised. The space agency said the spacecraft lost vital fuel due to a leakage problem. Peregrine was launched very recently aboard a Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The problem is said to be caused by fuel leakage. As a result, the power required for charging the Peregrine batteries is not generated. Scientists have finally solved the battery problem. However, the problem caused by the fuel leak could not be rectified. Astrobotic has announced that the thrusters in the 'Attitude Control System', which changes the peregrine direction in time, are not working in the prescribed order due to a fuel leak. They are expected to work a maximum of 40 hours. After that, it is not possible to change the direction of the spacecraft towards the Sun. As a result, power supply got severed. The current goal is to get Peregrine as close to the moon as possible. The goal of reaching the moon has almost failed.
After the failure of the lander launch, the astronauts who wanted to take a trip to the moon had to wait for a few more years. NASA will postpone these experiments for a while. NASA had originally planned to send four astronauts into lunar orbit by the end of this year. If the experiment fails, it will be delayed further.
Several moon missions have been attempted, and not all of them have been successful. Here are some notable instances of failed moon missions…
Soviet Luna Program
Luna 1958A and Luna 1958B (1958): These were the first attempts by the Soviet Union to reach the Moon. Both missions failed to achieve lunar orbit.
Luna 1959A (September 1959): This mission failed shortly after launch.
Ranger Program (United States)
Ranger 1 through Ranger 6 (1961-1964): The first six Ranger missions were intended to capture close-up images of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth.
Ranger 1 and Ranger 2 failed due to problems with their launch vehicles, while Ranger 3, Ranger 4, Ranger 5, and Ranger 6 successfully reached the Moon but experienced technical issues preventing the completion of their objectives.
Soviet Zond Program
Zond 1964A (April 1964): The first attempt to send a spacecraft around the Moon, but it failed shortly after launch.
Apollo 13 (United States)
While not a failure in the traditional sense, Apollo 13 (April 1970) experienced a critical oxygen tank explosion en route to the Moon, forcing the mission to be aborted. The crew returned safely to Earth without landing on the Moon.
Soviet Luna 1959B (September 1959)
This mission suffered a malfunction, leading to a launch vehicle failure.
Soviet Luna 1969A (February 1969):
This mission encountered difficulties after reaching Earth orbit, preventing it from continuing its journey to the Moon.
