The scandal-plagued Peregrine rover, which quickly failed in its mission to reach the moon after being launched last week, will deliberately crash into Earth’s atmosphere by Thursday, January 18. The doomed spacecraft will most likely burn up in our planet’s upper atmosphere and never reach its surface.

The Peregrine lander was built by Astrobotic Technology, a private space company based in Pittsburgh, and launched into space on January 8 aboard United Launch Alliances’ new Vulcan Centaur rocket, launched from the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral.

Once in space, the lander will follow a complex orbital path that will direct it to the Moon, where it will touch down at the end of February. If all goes as planned, Peregrine will be the first commercial vehicle to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first American spacecraft to reach the lunar surface.

The mission was roundly condemned by the Navajo Nation before launch because the lander was carrying payloads from monumental spacecraft that contained human remains and DNA. Navajo President Buu Nygren wrote in an open letter to NASA that landing human remains on the moon “is tantamount to desecration of this sacred site.”

About six hours after launch, Astrobotic announced that the lander, which had successfully separated from the rocket, had encountered several anomalies, including a critical fuel leak that effectively left the spacecraft afloat (or in space). After searching for a solution, the company admitted that the lander would never reach the surface of the moon.

Astrobotic tweeted on Saturday, January 13 on X (formerly Twitter) that the lander was on a collision course with Earth. Further tests showed that the spacecraft could still be maneuvered to some extent, meaning this fate could have been avoided. However, after consulting with NASA and the US government, Astrobotic announced on Sunday, January 14 that they would allow Peregrine to fall into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Astrobotic did not disclose exactly when and where the lander will enter Earth’s atmosphere, but said the mission would be completed on Thursday.

“We do not believe Peregrine’s reentry poses a safety threat and that the spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,” Astrobotic representatives said in a statement. he wrote. In the past, parts of other doomed spacecraft, such as malfunctioning return capsules and rocket boosters falling out of control, have been known to reach the Earth’s surface and collide.

Astrobotic decided to destroy the lander to prevent highly destructive space debris from remaining in the space between the Earth and the Moon’s orbit.

But the lander’s death spiral could still cause some environmental problems. Last October, scientists discovered that space debris burning in Earth’s atmosphere was causing high levels of metal pollution, which is affecting our skies in ways we don’t understand.

Despite the complete and near-immediate failure of Peregrine’s journey to the Moon, Astrobotic still considers the mission a success, partly because the equipment on the lander was still able to collect some data from Earth’s orbit, but mainly because it would have helped the company avoid a crash. similar mistakes in the future

“This mission has already taught us a lot and has given me great confidence that our next Moon mission will have a soft landing.” [на Місяць]Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement.