On January 8, 2024, the Vulcan Centaur super-heavy launch vehicle sent Astrobotic’s lunar lander into space. On board, in addition to various payloads and scientific instruments, there were wallets with 1 BTC and a physical Dogecoin token. It was planned that the device would successfully reach the Earth’s satellite and make a soft landing on the Moon. However, during the mission, the lander developed problems with its propulsion system, resulting in a fuel leak. These problems prevented Peregrine from reaching the Moon and the Astrobotic team was forced to return the lander to its home planet. Operators needed to develop a complex scheme for controlled deorbiting of the vehicle.
On January 19, 2024, Peregrine with 1 BTC and a Dogecoin wallet on board burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean. The device, along with Bitcoin and Memcoin, spent 10 days and 13 hours in space. This is disappointing news for BitMEX and the teams behind the 19 other payloads aboard the spacecraft. Most scientific experiments, such as NASA’s Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), will be completely useless if the lander cannot land safely. NASA paid about $108 million for its five science instruments that are part of the Peregrine 1 mission, plus $79.5 million to Astrobotic to deliver those five payloads to the lunar surface. This agreement is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to leverage commercial partnerships to deliver payloads to the Moon, thereby reducing overall mission costs.