Private Japanese lunar lander crashes while attempting Moon touchdown
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Japanese company’s lunar landing fails in commercial rush to moon
- Ispace, a Tokyo-based company, declared its private lunar lander mission a failure after losing communication with the lander during its attempted touchdown on the moon.
- Communication ceased less than two minutes before the scheduled landing, and a preliminary analysis suggests the laser system for measuring altitude malfunctioned, causing the lander to descend too fast.
- CEO Takeshi Hakamada apologised for the failed mission, which carried a rover with a shovel for lunar dirt collection and a Swedish artist’s toy-size red house.
- The mission, named Resilience, aimed for a flat area in Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) a long and narrow region full of craters that stretches across the near side’s northern tier.
- The lunar landing was part of a growing trend of private companies targeting the moon, with more failures than successes, including previous crashes by ispace and Intuitive Machines.