Your peregrine falcon is back! NASA: The space race reopened

At about 4:04 p.m. on January 18, Astrobotic's peregrine falcon lunar landing mission returned to Earth under control over the open waters of the South Pacific. This is an important space mission aimed at improving the capability of lunar science, exploration or commercial development. After analysis and suggestions by NASA and the space community, Astrobotic determined that the best choice to minimize risks and ensure responsible disposal of spacecraft is to keep the peregrine falcon flying to the earth's orbit and burn up when returning to the earth.

NASA Director Bill Nelson said: "Space exploration is a bold task. The scientific and aerospace data collected from the Astrobotic lunar lander can better prepare for NASA's future CLPS delivery and Artemis manned mission."

It is worth mentioning that NASA instruments carried by the Peregrine Falcon successfully started up and collected data, including linear energy transfer spectrometer (LETS), near-infrared volatile spectrometer system (NIRVSS), neutron spectrometer system (NSS), and Peregrine ion trap mass spectrometer (PITMS). Since these instruments can only be operated on the surface of the moon, NASA's scientific team is currently trying to interpret the results.

Preliminary data show that these instruments have measured the natural radiation and chemical composition of the area around the lander. NASA is conducting in-depth analysis on this, with a view to obtaining more data on the lunar surface.

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