The ultimate bake and shake, second time round: Doomed US lunar lander now heading for Earth

Calahonda52

https://www.rte.ie/news/us/2024/0114/1426444-moon-lander/

Our latest assessment now shows the spacecraft is on a path towards Earth, where it will likely burn up in the Earth's atmosphere,"

In addition to science hardware, the spaceship is carrying cargo for private clients of Astrobotic, including a sports drink can, a physical Bitcoin, as well as human and animal ashes and DNA.

The ashes were supposed to be put into orbit around the sun

bnt

"The ashes were supposed to be put into orbit around the sun"? The article doesn't say that and rightly so, I think. I'd like to see more about exactly what they mean by that.

The Earth is already in orbit around the Sun, but the Earth's gravity affects everything in a massive volume of space around it. The moon is about 400,000 km away, but orbits the Earth, and so could also be said to orbit the Sun too. In short, for anything to establish its own stable, independent orbit around the Sun, it will first have to get well clear of the Earth: millions of km at least, which will be expensive in fuel terms.

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623229#Comment_121623229

https://www.nenaghguardian.ie/2024/01/13/ashes-of-nenaghman-are-now-in-space/

The ashes of an expert on space who was born near Newtown, Nenagh, are aboard last Monday’s historic rocket launch in the US, and now set to orbit the sun for eternity.