Astrobotic says its Peregrine lunar lander won't make planned soft landing on the moon due to propellant leak

The Peregrin lunar lander, crippled by a propellant leak shortly after launch early Monday, is now expected to run out of fuel Thursday and will not be able to carry out its planned landing on the lunar surface, officials said Tuesday.

"Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the moon," Astrobotic, the Pittsburgh-based builder of the spacecraft, said in a post on X. "However, we do still have enough propellant to continue to operate the vehicle as a spacecraft.

"The team continues to work to find way to extend Peregrine's operational life. We are in stable operating mode and are working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts. We continue receiving valuable data and proving spaceflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar landing mission."