The Peregrine-1 spacecraft has "no chance" of landing on the moon.
Astrobotic - the Pittsburgh-based firm which had hoped to become the first private company to complete a moon landing - has confirmed that it has already given up on its ambition, after the spacecraft experienced technical issues a few hours into the mission.
The company said in a statement: "Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the moon."
Despite this, Astrobotic has insisted that Peregrine-1 does have enough fuel to operate "as a spacecraft". In the meantime, engineers will be able to decide on its new mission.
Peregrine-1 was supposed to become the first US spacecraft to land on the moon's surface since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Astrobotic is currently part of a private-public partnership with Nasa, and the agency previously suggested that such missions will have long-term benefits - even if the spacecrafts don't reach their intended destinations.
Pam Melroy, the deputy administrator of NASA, told the BBC in December: "What we have learned from our commercial partners is if we have a high enough cadence, we can relax some of the requirements that make it so costly, and have a higher risk appetite. And if they fail, the next one is going to learn and succeed."
