Doomed US Moon mission suffers critical fuel leak and will start losing power in less than 40 hours, experts admit

THE company behind the US’ first Moon mission in 50 years says it may lose control of the spacecraft in less than two days.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic has admitted the spacecraft is suffering a critical fuel leak and will start losing power in less than 40 hours.

AstroboticThe 1.2 tonne Peregrine lander was initially expected to arrive on the Moon on February 23[/caption]

AstroboticOnboard the spacecraft are a host of items, including the ashes of the original Star Trek cast and the DNA of former US president John F. Kennedy[/caption]

The launch was off to a successful start on Monday, when Peregrine Mission One blasted from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

But several hours later, experts at Astrobotic were left scrambling to fix an “anomaly” that saw the solar panel that provides power to the spacecraft stop facing the Sun.

This was due to a major leak in the propulsion system that was pushing Peregrine out of alignment.

The 1.2 tonne Peregrine lander was initially expected to arrive on the Moon on February 23.

Now, a touch-down on the lunar surface is no longer possible.

“At this time the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its Sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power,” Astrobotic wrote in a statement.

Onboard the spacecraft are a host of items, including the ashes of the original Star Trek cast and the DNA of former US president John F. Kennedy.

Astrobotic packed the lunar lander with a chip of rock from Mount Everest and toy-size cars from Mexico.

Beyond that, Peregrine is also carrying a British-made tool, known as the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (ESA), that was designed to help search for water in the Moon’s exosphere.

The exosphere is a thin layer of gases that floats around the Moon.

It would have been the first tool solely made in the UK to ever reach the Moon, and a flagstone for Britain’s space industry.

Though it now appears it will never make it to the lunar surface.

Dr Simeon Barber, who helped develop the ESA, told PA that he and his colleagues “are working shifts to maximise the returns from the exospheric mass spectrometer” as “Peregrine faces a limited lifetime”.

Astrobotic Technology aims to be the first private business to successfully land on the moon – something only four countries have achieved.

A Houston company also has a Moon lander ready to fly – and could beat Peregrine to the lunar surface, taking a more direct path.

Nasa dished out millions to the two companies to build and fly their own lunar lands.

The space agency wants the privately owned landers to scope out the place before astronauts arrive.

They will deliver Nasa tech and science experiments, as well as odds and ends for other customers.

The last time the US launched a moon-landing mission was in December 1972.