Private company Astrobotic's hopes of being the first to complete a moon landing have been dashed after its Peregrine-1 spacecraft developed a propellant leak. The Pittsburgh-based firm had aimed to be the first private company to successfully land on the moon, but a problem with the propulsion system has made a soft landing impossible. However, Astrobotic has stated that there is still enough fuel left in the lander for it to operate as a spacecraft while engineers decide on its new mission in orbit.

The Peregrine Mission 1 took off from Florida on a new Vulcan rocket on Monday, with the intention of being the first US spacecraft to land on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The problems with the lander were reported around seven hours after lift-off, when a disturbance in a section of thermal insulation was discovered. Astrobotic estimates that the lander will start losing power within 40 hours due to the critical loss of fuel.

Astrobotic's contract with NASA for the Peregrine lander was worth $108 million, and the company has more contracts in the pipeline. The space agency wants privately-owned landers to scope out the moon's surface before astronauts arrive, as well as deliver tech and science experiments. However, NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface within the next few years may be delayed, as issues have been uncovered with the batteries of the Lockheed Martin-built Orion crew capsule during vibration tests.

As for the Peregrine lander, its current trajectory is unknown, but Astrobotic hopes to power up its systems long enough to reach a distance equivalent to its planned journey to the moon. If it remains on course for the moon, it will likely crash into the surface, but it may also miss its intended target and head for deep space or be captured by the Sun's gravity. The fate of the spacecraft remains uncertain as engineers work to stabilize the propellant leak and assess alternative mission profiles.