Technology
One faulty valve led to failure of Astrobotic’s $108 million Peregrine lunar lander mission
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander failed to reach the Moon due to an issue with a single valve within the propulsion system, according to a mission report released on Tuesday. Company executives said at a news conference that engineers had redesigned the valve and added redundancy to the propulsion system of the subsequent lander, Griffin, to make sure the problem wouldn’t repeat itself.
The report comes from a review board that met shortly after the tip of the Peregrine mission in January. That mission bumped into problems just hours after its Jan. 8 launch, when engineers fired up the spacecraft’s propulsion system for the primary time in orbit.
At that time, the fuel and oxidizer tanks must have been full of helium after opening two pressure control valves, or PCVs. But helium began to flow “uncontrollably” through the second valve into the oxidizer tank, Astrobotic CEO John Thornton explained during a news conference.
“This caused a significant and rapid overpressure of the tank,” he said. “Unfortunately, the tank ruptured and as a result, oxidizer leaked, which continued to leak for the rest of the mission.”
The PCV was unable to reseal, likely due to a mechanical failure attributable to “vibration-induced loosening” between some of the threaded components contained in the valve, said review board chairman John Horack. Telemetry data was able to pinpoint the placement and time of the anomaly, and the information was consistent with the PCV’s autonomous opening and shutting sequence and the valve’s position within the propulsion system. Engineers were also able to recreate the failure during ground testing.
While the oxidizer leak continued, the Astrobotic team managed to stabilize the spacecraft, charge the batteries, and power the payloads. However, the issue ultimately proved fatal to the mission, and after 10.5 days, the spacecraft returned to Earth and burned up within the atmosphere.
The 34-person review board included 26 company insiders and eight outsiders. The board analyzed not only the information collected throughout the mission, but additionally all the information from the flight qualification campaign and component tests. Ultimately, it was determined that the probable cause of the failure was the failure of a single helium PCV within the propulsion system.
Management also laid out a timeline of events leading up to the failure, starting in 2019, when Astrobotic signed a contract with an unnamed supplier to develop a drive power system. When that supplier began experiencing technical and provide chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Astrobotic made the choice in early 2022 to terminate the contract and complete the partially assembled power system itself.
“At this point, we had already made the decision to do the Griffin propulsion system in-house to do more vertical integration,” said Astrobotic mission director Sharad Bhaskaran. “We had already developed a lot of capabilities to do that propulsion integration. … That also reduced some of the risk in the Griffin program, which is much more complex than Peregrine.”
However, Astrobotic engineers began to encounter problems with the unique supplier’s propulsion components—specifically, the PCVs. In August 2022, they switched to one other, unnamed PCV supplier, and people valves were installed on the lander.
The final set of propulsion system tests showed leaks in a single of the 2 PCVs—but not the one which ultimately leaked in orbit. That one performed well; the one which leaked was repaired. While Bhaskaran acknowledged that the second PCV had been identified “as a risk in our risk register” because the primary one leaked during testing, engineers ultimately deemed the failure minor, because the lander passed final acceptance testing.
The rationale for not replacing the second PCV was that it was situated much further back within the spacecraft and would require “extensive surgery” on the lander, invalidate final testing, and involve the extra risk of disassembly and reassembly.
Horack reiterated that the team’s decision-making was sound throughout: “I really found that when I looked at the team and what happened… I don’t see any decisions made in the lead-up to launch where I could say, ‘Hey, I think you should have done this differently.'”
These findings have already begun to inform development of the much larger Griffin lander, which is currently scheduled to launch to the moon before the tip of 2025. In addition to redesigning the valve, engineers have added a regulator to the propulsion system to control the flow of helium to the fuel and oxidizer tanks, in addition to backup latching valves as additional redundancy in case the PCV problem occurs again.
Technology
Sequoia increases its 2020 fund by 25%
Sequoia says no going out, no problem.
According to data from the Silicon Valley enterprise capital giant, the worth of its Sequoia Capital US Venture XVII fund increased by 24.6% in June at the top of 12 months. Pitchbookwho analyzed data from the University of California Regents Fund.
Sequoia’s margin is notable since the fund hasn’t had any exits yet. This can be a positive development for the 2020 fund vintage, on condition that after the uncertain valuations of 2020 and 2021, this yr’s funds usually are not expected to perform well for any VC. The mismatch is probably going resulting from high AI valuations giving risks a way of an economic recovery that has yet to bear fruit in other sectors. Sequoia is an investor in high-growth artificial intelligence corporations including OpenAI, Glean and Harvey, amongst others.
Sequoia has raised over $800 million for Fund XVII, which closed in 2022.
Technology
Revolut will introduce mortgage loans, smart ATMs and business lending products
Revolutthe London-based fintech unicorn shared several elements of the corporate’s 2025 roadmap at a company event in London on Friday. One of the corporate’s important goals for next yr will be to introduce an AI-enabled assistant that will help its 50 million customers navigate financial apps, manage money and customize software.
Considering that artificial intelligence is at the middle of everyone’s attention, this move shouldn’t be surprising. But an AI assistant could actually help differentiate Revolut from traditional banking services, which have been slower to adapt to latest technologies.
When Revolut launched its app almost 10 years ago, many individuals discovered the concept of debit cards with real-time payment notifications. Users may lock the cardboard from the app.
Many banks now can help you control your card using your phone. However, they’re unlikely to supply AI features that might be useful yet.
In addition to the AI assistant, Revolut announced that it will introduce branded ATMs to the market. These will end in money being spent (obviously), but in addition cards – which could encourage latest sign-ups.
Revolut said it plans so as to add facial recognition features to its ATMs in the longer term, which could help with authentication without using the same old card and PIN protocol. It will be interesting to see the way it implements this technology in a way that complies with European Union data protection regulations, which require explicit consent to make use of biometric data for identification purposes.
According to the corporate, Revolut ATMs will start appearing in Spain in early 2025.
Revolut has had a banking license in Europe for a while, which implies it may offer lending products to its retail customers. It already offers bank cards and personal loans in some countries.
Now the corporate plans to expand into mortgage loans – some of the popular lending products in Europe – with an emphasis on speed. If it’s an easy request, customers should generally expect immediate approval and a final offer inside one business day. However, mortgages are rarely easy, so it will be interesting to see if Revolut overpromises.
It appears that the mortgage market rollout will be slow. Revolut said it was starting in Lithuania, with Ireland and France expected to follow suit. Although all these premieres are scheduled for 2025.
Finally, Revolut intends to expand its business offering in Europe with its first loan products and savings accounts. In the payments space, it will enable business customers to supply “buy now, pay later” payment options.
Revolut will introduce Revolut kiosks with biometric payments especially for restaurants and stores.
If all these features seem overwhelming, it’s because Revolut is consistently committed to product development, rolling out latest features quickly. And 2025 looks no different.
Technology
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is leaving PhonePe’s board
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down three-quarters from PhonePe’s board after making an identical move on the e-commerce giant.
Bengaluru-based PhonePe said it has appointed Manish Sabharwal, executive director at recruitment and human resources firm Teamlease, as an independent director and chairman of the audit committee.
Bansal played a key role in Flipkart’s acquisition of PhonePe in 2016 and has since served on the fintech’s board. The Walmart-backed startup, which operates India’s hottest mobile payment app, spun off from Flipkart in 2022 and was valued at $12 billion in funding rounds that raised about $850 million last 12 months.
Bansal still holds about 1% of PhonePe. Neither party explained why they were leaving the board.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of the first and staunchest supporters of PhonePe,” Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said in a press release. His lively involvement, strategic advice and private mentoring have profoundly enriched our discussions. We will miss Binny!”
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