{"id":343224,"date":"2024-01-30T22:07:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T12:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=343224"},"modified":"2024-01-31T20:15:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T10:15:44","slug":"nicolas-work-has-rocketed-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/01\/30\/nicolas-work-has-rocketed-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola’s Work Has Rocketed, Literally"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Burnett author Nicola Pitt with Book 1 from her “Warriors Of The Elector” series which hitched a ride into space in digital form<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 30, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett author Nicola Pitt has enjoyed a stellar career as an author – after all, she’s published about 40 novels – but she very nearly enjoyed a lunar career as well.<\/p>\n

If all had gone well, a Peregrine lander would have taken some of Nicola’s words to the moon earlier this month, or specifically to a geographical feature on the lunar surface known as the Gruithuisen Domes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2021, American author Susan Kaye Quinn – who also just happens to be an aerospace engineer – bought a DHL Moonbox<\/a><\/strong> which had booked a ride on the Peregrine Mission 1 to the moon.<\/p>\n

(Yes, DHL the courier company…)<\/p>\n

The private Peregrine mission hoped to land the first US-built lunar lander on the Moon since NASA’s Apollo 17 in 1972.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan invited about 125 writers from around the world to submit an expression of interest about why their works should be included on a micro SD card hitched to the Peregrine lander.<\/p>\n

The “Writers On The Moon” time capsule hoped to provide a snapshot of popular fiction to “reveal the humanity of today to the readers of tomorrow”.<\/p>\n

Nicola – who publishes under the nom de plume Imogene Nix – submitted an EOI and was successful.<\/p>\n

She sent digital copies of her “Warriors Of The Elector” series of science fiction novels – as well as some family photos – to Susan to be added to the payload.<\/p>\n

There was then a long wait, as the Peregrine mission faced delays from its initial proposed launch date in 2022.<\/p>\n

However, it was worth it, with Peregrine launching successfully from Cape Canaveral on January 8, carried on board the maiden flight of a Vulcan Centaur rocket.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the South Burnett, Nicola was receiving updates as the mission progressed.<\/p>\n

The two solid rocket boosters separated from the vehicle successfully and the first and second stage engines fired as planned, putting the Centaur into a low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

The Peregrine lander – built by Astrobotic Technology – then successfully separated from the rocket to begin its planned 46-day trip to the moon.<\/p>\n

About seven hours after the launch, Astrobotic reported a problem had prevented the lander from achieving “a stable sun-pointing orientation”, ie. to power its solar panels.<\/p>\n

An unplanned manoeuvre corrected this and power began to be generated however it quickly became apparent that a propellant leak meant the lander was using more fuel than expected to keep it pointing in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Astrobotic announced that Peregrine could no longer land on the Moon but hoped it could continue to operate as a spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, six days into the mission – and after consultations with NASA – Astrobotic decided to direct the spacecraft to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere to avoid creating risks to future spacecraft.<\/p>\n

A controlled re-entry burn occurred last Thursday into the South Pacific.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Peregrine’s last communication with Earth is believed to have been with the Deep Space Communication Complex in Canberra.<\/p>\n

Nicola was obviously disappointed the mission was aborted but she was also elated it had actually made its way into space.<\/p>\n

The Peregrine lander carried a number of commercial\u00a0 payloads – including NASA experiments and micro-rovers – as well as the Writers On The Moon micro SD card and other time capsules.<\/p>\n

Controversially, also on board were the ashes and DNA from about 70 people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.<\/p>\n

External links:<\/strong><\/p>\n