the American lunar lander has “no chance” of landing gently on the Moon

A fuel leak that changes everything. The private American moon lander, which took off on Monday, did not “no chance” to land gently on the Moon, Astrobotic, the company that developed the device, said Tuesday, January 9, in a published statement on. This mission was to mark the first landing of an American spacecraft on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program, more than 50 years ago. Astrobotic could also have become the first private company to successfully land on the Moon.

Despite this failure, “we still have enough fuel to continue operating the vehicle as a ship”underlined Astrobotic, which estimates “around 40 hours” the battery life of the device. The machine took off from Florida, aboard the new Vulcan Centaur rocket from the industrial group ULA. The moon lander, named Peregrinewas developed by Astrobotic with the financial support of NASA, which commissioned this company to transport scientific equipment to the Moon, a contract worth $108 million.