Astrobotic: Peregrine spacecraft won't land on moon after propellant loss

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The company that had hoped to be the first private one to put a lunar lander on the moon now is looking ahead to its next space mission after confirming the failure of its Peregrine spacecraft on Tuesday.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic's Peregrine -- the first American spacecraft bound for the surface of the moon in more than 50 years -- launched flawlessly early Monday morning but experienced an "anomaly" shortly after it deployed from its launch rocket. The craft then quickly experienced a "critical loss of propellant."

On Tuesday, the company said the craft had been operational for nearly 40 hours. It said overnight that the mission had faced directional problems, but the spacecraft is in a "translunar trajectory."

Astrobotic said the spacecraft began to tilt away from the sun, reducing solar power. The spacecraft's team was able to address that problem, and the craft's batteries were fully charged. But, because of the propellent leak, there is no chance of a soft landing on the moon's surface.

On Tuesday, the company hypothesized a "working theory" that the anomaly was caused by a valve that failed to reseal after being used. That resulted in high-pressure helium pushing the pressure in an oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit, the company surmised while saying a more detailed analysis will come later.

Despite the mission failure, enough propellant remains for the vehicle to continue to operate, which the company said was an improvement from analyses the night before.

The Astrobotic team -- which said it was in a "stable operating mode and ... working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts" -- also is working to find ways to possibly extend Peregrine's operational life.

"We continue receiving valuable data and providing spacecraft operations for components and software relating to our next lander mission, Griffin," Astrobotic said on X.