Space transportation company Astrobotic announced that its Peregrine spacecraft faced an incident during takeoff on January 8, affecting BitMEX’s mission to send bitcoin to the Moon.
Specifically, the Peregrine ship had difficulty deploying solar panels in the right location, leading to insufficient power for operation. The cause of the incident stemmed from the ship’s engine not operating according to the expected scenario.
Astrobotic’s technical team is reassessing the situation and considering the possibility of changing the mission’s objective. This means that the Peregrine may not be able to successfully land on the lunar surface.
Images from the Peregrine’s camera show that there was an impact during takeoff.
Initially, Astrobotic planned to make Peregrine the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon in the past half century and become the first private company to do so. Along with two other private companies, they have received a license from the US Space Agency (NASA) to carry out a total of 6 missions to the Moon in 2024.
Astrobotic’s mission attracted special attention when it partnered with cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX to bring a hardware wallet containing 1 Bitcoin to the Moon. This action is expected to highlight Bitcoin as a monetary system far beyond Earth’s borders.
BitMEX sent a Bitcoin coin weighing approximately 43 grams with the Peregrine. Inside the coin is a USB containing the public wallet address “1MoonBTCixFH3XTrWRCbMpK23o74nQrA1Q” and private key, holding 1 real BTC coin worth about 45,000 USD (as of January 8, 2024).
Related: BitMEX Wants to Bring Bitcoin to the Moon
According to the original plan, the Peregrine ship is expected to take about 7 weeks to travel to the Moon and is expected to land on February 23, 2024.
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