Astrobotic in a sentence

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander at the company’s facility on the North Side.

Astrobotic is now brainstorming “alternative mission profiles” for Peregrine in an attempt to salvage the project.

Astrobotic President John Thornton said in a press conference that the valve may not have worked properly.

Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine spacecraft — the first US lunar lander to launch in five decades — met Thursday after a critical fuel leak made safely landing on the moon out of the question.

But all is not lost for Astrobotic.

In this photo provided by United Launch Alliance, the Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander is prepared for encapsulation in a payload fairing for launch atop a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in December 2023.

It’s not yet clear if Astrobotic can achieve this objective.

It was thought that the spacecraft had less than two days of propellant (fuel) but in its most recent update, Astrobotic said “the rate of leak had slowed more than anticipated” and now estimate that Peregrine has about 52 hours of propellant remaining.

Other parts of the lander are still functional, and mission control is using Peregrine’s existing power to “perform as many payload and spacecraft operations as possible,” Astrobotic said.

Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology is up first with a planned liftoff of a lander Monday aboard a brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan.

The malfunction of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander marked the third failure of a private company to achieve a lunar touchdown, following ill-fated efforts by companies from Israel and Japan.

This photo provided by Astrobotic Technology shows the Peregrine lunar lander at the company’s facility in Pittsburgh in October 2023.

To commemorate the Steel City, Astrobotic's lander will carry a Kennywood amusement park token, the winner of a public vote that beat out the Steelers' Terrible Towel waved at football games, dirt from Moon Township's Moon Park, and a Heinz pickle pin.

We are on our way to the moon!” a clearly delighted Astrobotic chief executive John Thornton said.

Astrobotic has secured more than a dozen commercial contracts around the globe for its lunar delivery services.

Astrobotic, founded by Carnegie Mellon University professor Red Whittaker, is developing space travel technology and plans to send their Peregrine lunar lander to the moon through their MoonBox program.

Astrobotic of Pittsburgh has proposed to fly as many as 14 payloads to a large crater on the near side of the Moon.

Astrobotic won $2 million to work with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Kennedy Space Center to continue work on small rovers.

Dan Hendrickson, vice president of business development at Astrobotic, also expects the number of participating companies to decrease.

The payload will be delivered by Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander,” the History Center said in a release.