A private mission to the Moon carrying the DNA of former presidents including John F Kennedy may not be able to land after suffering technical problems hours after takeoff.
United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur launched from Florida at 7.18am GMT carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander, the first American spacecraft to attempt a Moon landing since the final Apollo in 1972.
Around 50 minutes later, at around 310 miles above Earth, Peregrine successfully separated from Vulcan and entered “a fully operational state”, the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic said.
But not long after, the firm reported a technical glitch preventing the 1.2-tonne lander from pointing its solar panels at the sun.
The company believes the problem was caused by a “propulsion anomaly” which “if proven true, threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the Moon”.
![The Vulcan rocket launches on its debut flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, US on January 8, 2024](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/news/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361941711_17047023350330_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
It warned the lander’s battery was “reaching operationally low levels” and said the “mission anomaly board” was investigating the cause of the issue.
While in orbit, Peregrine’s top-mounted solar panel must stay pointed at the Sun to enable maximum power generation.
The firm later said it had re-established communications following a planned blackout and that an “improvised manoeuvre” to reposition the solar panels had been successful, with the battery now charging.
Peregrine is supposed to hold its orbit before landing on a mid-latitude region of the Moon called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on Feb 23.
Only a handful of nations have successfully performed a soft landing on the Moon.
The mission, which is partly backed by Nasa, comes as the US turns to the private sector to carry out routine missions and ship hardware at a fraction of the cost.
![The mission's cargo includes the cremated remains of Star Trek television series creator Gene Roddenberry](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/news/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361942361_17047024800800_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqFlH6PpRYmBKMDiKfsBrh_PjY-FYa4bfp6h9nY9MXqtk.jpeg?imwidth=350)
But the commercialisation of the project has led to a fallout with Navajo Nation, the largest indigenous tribe in the US, as it involves two private firms depositing the human remains of dozens of people on what the tribe regards as a sacred site.
Among the companies to have purchased payloads aboard the lander were space burial firms Celestis and Elysium Space, with the former charging people £10,000 ($13,000) to send the cremated remains of their loved ones to the Moon as “a permanent memorial on a distant, but constantly viewable world”.
The plan is for around 70 samples of human remains to land on the Moon, while the rest will carry on into deep space.
Among the raft of DNA samples being sent into deep space are hair clippings from former presidents George Washington, JFK and Dwight Eisenhower, and the remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife and a string of cast members.
The move sparked outrage from Buu Nygren, the Navajo Nation president, who called for Monday’s launch to be delayed, claiming it would be a “profound desecration” of the Moon.
“The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space”, Mr Nygren said.
Though the tribe was granted a last-ditch meeting with the White House, Nasa and other officials, their objections failed to result in the removal of the cargo.
Joel Kearns, the Nasa deputy associate administrator for exploration, said it took the concerns “very seriously” but had limited oversight on a mission run by the private sector.
Charles Chafer, the chief executive of Celestis, said the company respected “everyone’s beliefs” but did “not find Mr Nygren’s concerns to be compelling”.
John Thornton, the Astrobotic chief executive, said Mr Nygren’s objections, which were first made in December, came too late but promised to work on “a good path forward” with the Navajo for future missions.