After a flawless launch to orbit, the privately built robotic Peregrine lander is unlikely to reach the lunar surface because of a failure in its propulsion system.
I would totally believe that the company that sold slots on a lunar lander to a ritzy funeral service, would cut corners on engineering
Weren’t the Celestis cremated remains and the Astrobotic lunar lander separate payloads, going to different orbits? I don’t think the two companies are affiliated apart from the rideshare.
Shit happens. The editorialized title is unnecessary.
To be clear, that was the original title. I did not editorialize it; they changed it after I posted. It’s now “American Company’s Spacecraft Malfunctions on Its Way to the Moon”, but was “Moon Lander Malfunctions After Launch, Raising Questions for NASA”. I’ve updated the title.
Mind boggling that we launched a rocket with a payload without testing it at least once.
Where does it say it was untested?
It’s not so weird, and if someone wants to take the extra risk with their own payload (and get a discount on the launch, i imagine) i see no problems with it.
