Peregrine Moon Mission Runs Into Disaster, and More Top Science News of the Week
Failure in space dominated our headlines this week, with Astrobotic’s uncrewed lunar lander mission Peregrine-1 experiencing critical issues shortly after leaving Earth. Back on the ground, though, NASA finally—after months of trying—succeeded in opening the container filled with samples plucked from the asteroid Bennu. Click through for this week’s roundup. - Rose Pastore
Private Moon Lander Peregrine Is Already in Big Trouble [Update]
ULA’s Vulcan Centaur lifted off on January 8, 2024 at 2:18 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant,” Astrobotic noted on X. “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.” Astrobotic is now brainstorming “alternative mission profiles” for Peregrine in an attempt to salvage the project. - Passant Rabie Read More
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx curation engineer, Neftali Hernandez, attaches one of the tools developed to help remove two final fasteners that prohibited complete disassembly of the TAGSAM (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head.
After months of fidgeting with a canister that contained rocky samples from an ancient asteroid, NASA engineers have finally removed two stubborn fasteners that were preventing the space agency from collecting the full amount of Bennu’s debris. - Passant Rabie Read More
How to Watch NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Plane Roll Out of the Hangar
NASA’s freshly painted X-59 aircraft rolled out of its hangar on Friday, January 12, in the lead-up to its first takeoff. The experimental plane, built by Lockheed Martin, is designed to develop a quieter type of supersonic flight. - Isaac Schultz Read More
See Nature Way Up-Close in These Award-Winning Photographs
Sometimes, a moment is so fleeting or a scene is so small that not even the fiercest squint can capture it.
Thankfully, that’s where cameras—and the photographers that wield them—come in. Today, the winners and finalists of the fifth Close-up Photographer of the Year competition are revealed. Showcasing nature at its smaller scales, the awarded images—selected from nearly 12,000 entries—offer an intimate look at the animal kingdom, fungi, and the remarkable planet that we call home. - Isaac Schultz Read More
Historic Moon Mission Is Falling Apart After ‘Critical’ Fuel Loss
This image, taken in space from a camera mounted atop Peregrine’s payload deck, shows a very warped Multi-Layer Insulation, “the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly,” Astrobotic said in statement.
A mission to land a private U.S. lander on the Moon, and the first U.S. lander since the Apollo era, looks to be ending before it even had a chance to get started. - George Dvorsky Read More
A Wounded Shark Regenerated Its Torn-Up Dorsal Fin, Photos Show
A silky shark with a chunk taken out of its dorsal fin regrew much of its lost appendage, according to photographs taken of the fish nearly a year apart. Research describing the elasmobranch’s recovery is published in the Journal of Marine Sciences. - Isaac Schultz Read More
Oldest Fossilized Skin Discovered, Clocks in at 300 Million Years Old
Researchers believe they’ve found the oldest known fossilized skin, hidden away in a limestone cave system in Oklahoma. - Isaac Schultz Read More
A Possible Explanation Arises for Peregrine Lunar Mission Failure
The Peregrine lander snapped this image using a camera located at the bottom of its payload decks.
The Peregrine lander has less than a day to live, and the company behind the spacecraft may have figured out why its mission was doomed shortly after its launch. - Passant Rabie Read More
It’s a Race Against Time to Recover Parts of Doomed Moon Landing Mission
Timelapse image of the Vulcan Centaur launch, January 8, 2024.
Astrobotic, the team behind the Peregrine spacecraft, is urgently working to extract any possible value from its failing mission. This comes after a catastrophic propellant leak occurred just after yesterday’s launch, ending the spacecraft’s attempt to land on the Moon. - George Dvorsky Read More
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