Fuel leak forces US company to abandon moon landing attempt

A crippling gasoline leak compelled a U.S. firm on Tuesday to surrender on touchdown a spacecraft on the moon.

Astrobotic Know-how’s lander started dropping gasoline quickly after Monday’s launch. The spacecraft additionally encountered issues protecting its solar panel pointed in the direction of the sun and producing solar power.

“Given the propellant leak, there may be, sadly, no probability of a smooth touchdown on the moon,” Astrobotic mentioned in an announcement.

Astrobotic had been focusing on a lunar landing on Feb. 23, following a roundabout, fuel-efficient flight to the moon. It might have been the primary U.S. moon touchdown in additional than 50 years, and the primary by a private company. A second lander from a Houston firm is because of launch subsequent month.

Solely 4 international locations have pulled off a profitable moon touchdown.

The corporate mentioned the brand new purpose was to maintain the lander working so long as potential in space, with a view to be taught as a lot as potential for its subsequent mission a yr or so from now. Flight controllers managed to maintain the spacecraft pointed towards the sun and its battery absolutely charged, with one other 40 hours of operations anticipated.

The Pittsburgh-based firm didn’t elaborate on why the Peregrine lander’s propellant system failed simply hours into the flight.

NASA paid Astrobotic $108 million to fly its experiments to the moon on this mission, a part of the company’s business lunar program.

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