ASTROBOTIC/NASA MEDIA TELECON ON PEREGRINE LUNAR MISSION, Jan 19, 2024, virtual, 1:00 pm ET (livestreamed)

Update, January 17:  Astrobotic has changed the date and time to January 19 at 1:00 pm ET because they have been able to command Peregrine to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific at about 4:00 pm ET on January 18.  On January 19 at 10:20 am ET, Japan is attempting to land its SLIM lunar lander, so now this telecon will be after that.  The list of participants has also expanded.

• John Thornton, CEO, Astrobotic,
• Dan Hendrickson, Vice President of Business Development, Astrobotic
• Sharad Bhaskaran, Mission Director for Peregrine Mission One, Astrobotic
• Ander Solorzano, Flight Director and Principal Systems Engineer, Astrobotic
• Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

Original Entry: Astrobotic and NASA will hold a joint media telecon on January 18, 2024 at 12:00 pm ET to discuss Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander mission. It is the first of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions where NASA is just one of several customers purchasing services from Astrobotic to land payloads on the lunar surface.

Participants are:

• Joel Kearns, NASA deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate
• John Thornton, CEO, Astrobotic

Audio will air on NASA TV.

The Peregrine lander was successfully launched by ULA’s Vulcan rocket on January 8, 2024, but soon after being released to begin its journey to a soft landing on the Moon on February 23, the lander’s propulsion system began leaking propellant. Astrobotic soon conceded it would not be able to soft land on the Moon.

Nonetheless, it activated the powered science experiments it was carrying and is collecting some science data while the propulsion system is still working.