Peregrine lander: Update as spacecraft headed for first Moon landing since Apollo appears to come back to life
Breaking news (Aug 2023)
The troubled spacecraft aiming to become the first American Moon landing since the Apollo missions has come back to life, its engineers had said.
The Peregrine lander was shot up into space on Monday morning, carried by a Vulcan rocket. Initially, the launch appeared to have been a success, as the spacecraft separated from its rocket and flew off into space with a view to landing on the lunar surface in February.
Soon after, however, data indicated that the spacecraft appeared to have been hit by an “anomaly”. Its solar panels were not facing the Sun and its batteries were not charging, engineers said, leaving the mission in jeopardy.
But attempts to save it appear to have worked, at least for now, and it is now charging its batteries as it flies towards the Moon, according to Astrobiotic, the company behind it.
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