The Peregrine spacecraft, launched Monday morning by a Vulcan rocket on its way to the moon, is experiencing technical problems that could mean mission failure. The folks at Astrobotic are talking about an “anomaly” and say they’ll be back with more data. The probe weighs 1.2 tons and has 20 scientific instruments.

The BBC writes that the problem is that the probe’s solar cells are no longer pointed at the Sun, and if the batteries are not charged and if the probe discharges, the 45-day mission will not work. be able to continue. A technical team is on site trying to resolve the issue.

The company Astrobotic also wrote about the anomaly in a post.

• VIDEO The Vulcan rocket was launched, which will try to place an American probe on the surface of the Moon for the first time in 51 years

The Vulcan rocket was launched at 2:18 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral (9:18 a.m. in Romania), and 50 minutes later the Peregrine probe detached from the rocket to continue its long journey on its own.

The mission is for the probe to reach the lunar surface on February 23, which would be the first time Americans have done so in 51 years. The mission does NOT have a human crew.

The rocket on Monday sent the Peregrine lander, which was developed by Astrobotic, a startup contracted by NASA to deliver scientific material to the lunar surface, on its way to the moon. The contract is worth 108 million dollars, and the probe must land in a region called Sinus Viscositatis (Bay of Viscosity).

People hope that in the future sending cargo to the moon will become commonplace and happen very often.