Japanese ‘Startup’ Loses Contact With Probe That Would Land On The Moon

2023-04-26 02:40:42

the japanese probe Hakuto-Rfrom the company ispace, lost communication with Earth minutes before completing the landing on the Moon. If the descent this Tuesday, 25, had worked, the company would become the first private company to land a probe on the lunar surface. The spacecraft was launched on December 11 last year.

The company’s CEO, Takeshi Hakamada, claimed that the communication signal was lost shortly before the probe landed on the Moon. “We have to assume that we failed to complete the landing on the lunar surface,” he said.

“We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface,” says Takeshi Hakamada, founder & CEO of ispace.

Ground teams had data from the lander during its descent, but lost the signal before landing.

“We will keep going,” he said. pic.twitter.com/Q5KVBwXjLZ

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) April 25, 2023

Other companies want to reach the moon

The initial objective of the Japanese company was to explore the lunar region. In the future, the idea is to work with the shipment of cargo, including those from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). The company confirms that, before the crash, the probe was able to send Photos of the Moon and the Earth.

The probe that would go to the Moon had already been in orbit since March of this year. It had been launched in December by a Falcon 9 rocket, from SpaceXbillionaire’s company Elon Musk.

ispace is not the first private company not to complete a lunar mission. In April 2019, for example, the Israeli company SpacelL observed the fall of the probe sent to the Moon.