Dates not specified
The Astrobotic company, which created the Peregrine lunar lander, announced that the device is heading towards Earth and will burn up in its atmosphere.
In their statement, they emphasized that, judging by the latest estimates, a soft landing is impossible. Peregrine is in its sixth day in space.
The Vulcan rocket was launched on January 8 from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Center in Florida with the goal of delivering cargo to the Moon, including the Peregrine lander. However, shortly after separation from the carrier, a malfunction was detected in the module. Experts have identified a fuel leak, which left no chance of a soft landing on the Moon.
Experts are making efforts to collect additional data while the module is still running. On January 11, Astrobotic announced that it had successfully restored communications with all operational devices on the module.