US Moon mission runs into technical difficulties

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The lunar mission that launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, early on Monday has run into technical difficulties, jeopardising US hopes of returning to the Moon for the first time in half a century.

Several hours after separating from the Vulcan Centaur rocket, the lunar lander, called Peregrine, experienced a “propulsion anomaly” that stopped it from pointing its solar panels stably at the Sun, manufacturer Astrobotic Technology said.

Engineers have reoriented the panels and started to restore power while resuming communications with the lander. Earlier it said the propulsion problem “threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the Moon”.

Monday’s launch marked the first flight of the Vulcan Centaur heavy rocket, which was built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

If the lander reaches the lunar surface safely, it will be the first successful commercial mission to the Moon. An attempt by Japan’s iSpace last April failed when its lander crashed on the surface.

John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said earlier on Monday that the launch was the “dawn of a new era” for space exploration.

“It is an opportunity for commercial payloads to fly to the Moon on a regular basis,” he said from Cape Canaveral’s control room. “It means our scientists . . . can access the Moon like never before.”

Peregrine is the first of eight planned missions in Nasa’s commercial lunar payload services initiative, a vital step in the US space agency’s Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo programme ended in 1972.

Nasa hopes it can reduce the cost of future missions by sponsoring the private sector.

Peregrine is carrying five scientific payloads to the lunar surface for Nasa, alongside 15 others, including from Hungary,…