Astrobotic’s Peregrine-1 spacecraft has “no chance” of landing on the moon after it sprang a propellant leak, the company says.
The problem occurred in the first few hours of the lunar lander’s journey into space.
The Pittsburgh-based firm added that there is enough fuel left in the lander to allow it to operate “as a spacecraft” while engineers decide what its new mission in orbit will be.
The company said it had also managed to orient the lander towards the sun, so the solar panel could collect sunlight and charge its battery.
The Peregrine lunar lander. Pic: AP
Peregrine Mission 1 took off in Florida on a new Vulcan rocket at 7.18am UK time on Monday.
It was intended to be the first US spacecraft to land on the moon’s surface since Apollo 17 in 1972 and appeared to lift off into space as planned.
The problems with the Peregrine Mission-1 lander were reported around seven hours after Monday’s pre-dawn lift-off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The company said the propulsion system problem “threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the moon”.
Astrobotic said a photo from a lander-mounted camera, showed a “disturbance” in a section of thermal insulation – which aligned with what was so far known of the problem.
A disturbed section of insulation on the Peregrine lander while on its way to land on the moon
Pic:Astrobotic /AP
The company was aiming to be the first private business to successfully land on the moon, something only four countries have accomplished.
A second lander from a Houston company is due to launch next month. NASA gave the two companies millions to build and fly their own lunar landers.
The space agency wants the privately owned landers to scope out the area before astronauts arrive while delivering tech and science experiments for the space agency, other countries and universities.
Astrobotic’s contract with NASA for the Peregrine lander was $108m (£85m) and it has more in the pipeline.