After a disastrous wave of setbacks, Pittsburgh space company Astrobotic is seeing things through a new lens.
Astrobotic confirmed Wednesday that an image of a curved sliver in space taken from its Peregrine lander was Earth viewed from tens of thousands of miles away.
That photo seemed to turn spirits around at the company, following a series of distressing updates earlier in the week after Peregrine’s propulsion system was damaged and the lander was leaking fuel at a critical rate.
Update #11 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/QZjqUW00BZ
— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 10, 2024
Since posting the Earth image on social media, Astrobotic has shared several more updates exuding hopefulness about valuable data being gathered and optimism that Peregrine’s mission will not be a total loss.
Astrobotic, which is headquartered on Pittsburgh’s North Side, is seeking to become the first commercial company to complete a mission to the moon, though a soft lunar landing for Peregrine is unlikely.
By Thursday, Astrobotic had traveled 225,000 miles from Earth, but it appears that its path won’t intersect that of the moon.
It might not be for lack of fuel. Peregrine’s fuel reserves keep beating expectations. Astrobotic estimated Tuesday that the lander had 40 hours of fuel remaining, but late Friday morning the company revised that number upward and said Peregrine still had enough fuel for 52 more hours.
“Our engineers continue to work on solutions to extend life expectancy and there is growing optimism that Peregrine could survive much longer than the current estimate,” said Astrobotic in a statement.
Update #10 for Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/lpLd6KF24Y
— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 10, 2024
Peregrine is carrying several payloads from Carnegie Mellon University, NASA, private entities and others. Astrobotic said all 10 payloads requiring power are continuing to receive power and are transferring valuable data back to mission control on Earth.
“We are proud of the mission team for achieving this incredible feat under such challenging circumstances,” said Astrobotic.
Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County news. A native of California’s Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after spending more than six years covering Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh City Paper, including serving as managing editor. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com.
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