NASA Moonlander Suffers ‘Critical Loss of Propellant’

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Facts

• Following its launch on Monday, NASA's new lunar lander reportedly suffered a “critical loss of propellant,” discovered after it was unable to orientate itself towards the sun and charge its batteries due to a propulsion system failure. The launch of the lander, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, comes over 51 years after NASA's last Apollo mission.¹
• According to Astrobotic, the company was able to re-establish communication with the spacecraft after a short blackout, and an improvised maneuver successfully reoriented the moon lander, known as Peregrine. They added that they were 'working to try and stabilise [sic] this loss' while assessing 'what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.”²
• Peregrine was originally scheduled to attempt a touch down on Sinus Viscositatis, also called the “Bay of Stickiness,” on Feb. 23, though it is now unclear if this will go forward. Only India and China have made successful soft moon landings in the 21st century, while Japan's 'Moon Sniper' spacecraft may land later this month.³
• The mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which involves incentivizing US companies to send their scientific experiments and technologies to the moon in order to develop a lunar economy and provide low-cost transport.⁴
• Peregrine will also carry human remains to moon. This has sparked opposition from the Navajo Nation of Native Americans, who consider the moon their sacred space and have described the act as 'desecration.'⁵
• The Peregrine mission will lay the road for NASA's manned lunar mission by the end of the decade. The space agency has stated that it also has plans to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.⁶

Sources: ¹CNN (a), ²Guardian, ³CNN (b), ⁴Phys, ⁵Sky News and ⁶POLITICO.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by MIT Technology Review. 2024 will see a series of attempts made by NASA to once again reach the moon, hopefully culminating in manned missions. The long-term plan is to settle human beings on earth's only natural satellite, making it the stepping stone for ventures into deep space. While the financial viability of such ambitions, especially for private parties, remains unclear, it is hoped that some form of lunar 'commercial economy' will evolve as a result of these initiatives.
• Narrative B, as provided by Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. The very fact that no one has tried to travel to the moon since 1972 must tell us something: it is a non-viable, pointless exercise. NASA has already spent more than $40B on its Artemis moon mission, and will likely rack up greater costs than even this staggering figure. NASA's plans have no real value to most people on earth. We need to do more to improve things on this planet, instead of trying slingshots elsewhere.

Predictions