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By Loren Grush
The first US lunar lander launched in more than 50 years has “no chance” of successfully touching down on the moon, the company that built the spacecraft, Astrobotic Technology Inc., said on Tuesday.
Astrobotic’s announcement comes a day after the moon lander, called Peregrine, launched aboard United Launch Alliance LLC’s new Vulcan rocket but suffered an apparent propulsion issue in space.
The problem caused critical propellant from the lander to leak, preventing the vehicle from being able to perform the landing.
“We currently expect to run out of propellant in about 40 hours from now,” the company said. Company engineers are also trying to figure out how to extend the spacecraft’s operations in space, Astrobotic added.
