This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a devastating series of updates earlier today, the Pittsburgh-based startup said a “failure within the propulsion system” is causing a critical loss of propellant.
“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,” the company said in an update posted to X.
Issues cropped up just hours after launch, when the company said that the lander, called Peregrine, was unable to orient itself to the sun and charge its batteries.
While Astrobotic engineers were eventually able to reorient the spacecraft’s solar array toward the sun and charge up the batteries, the company confirmed that a failure within the propulsion system was the root cause of the issue.
Astrobotic’s plan was to conduct a series of complex maneuvers to gradually lower the lander’s orbit, before finally attempting a soft landing on February 23 (which would also require fuel).
A deputy administrator from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Joel Kearns, said in a statement after launch that “each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow.
The original article contains 445 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
You mean farming out scientific discovery to the lowest bidder doesn’t yield the best results?
Farming out to the lowest bidder works well when the guidelines are strict and the client (gvmnt) does good QA.
Lots of stuff was farmed out in the apollo mission and it was still ok. Strict QA was noted as a very important factor in why that mission was a success.
You can read the case study by NASA about this, and you’ll see that they have 1 article just about QA and how they did testing, and another one about testing and deadlines
Were they the lowest bidder? The article doesn’t mention anything about that.
Also, going with the lowest bidder gave us spacex, which turned out pretty well. Fuck Boeing
Indeed, this is the way. Fuccckk thaaatt Boeiiiinggg ::::meditation mantra::::::
That’s frustrating. Anyways, SpaceX! Turnaround record of 3 hours! Something fails, learn from it and launch another one. The ULA invests so much money and time, it makes every mechanical or propulsion failure seem catastrophic.
It might be cheaper but it’s not like its free you know.
