Japan’s Ispace admits failure in attempt to make first commercial moon landing By Reuters

2023-04-26 02:30:40

© Reuters. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, is pictured at a location to watch the landing of the Hakuto-R module 4/25/2023 REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

By Kantaro Komiya and Joey Roulette

(Reuters) – Japanese startup ispace said its attempt to make the first private moon landing failed on Tuesday after it lost contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander, concluding it likely crashed to the surface. lunar.

“We lost communication, so we have to assume we were unable to complete the landing on the lunar surface,” ispace Chief Executive Takeshi Hakamada said in a live broadcast from the company, as mission control engineers in Tokyo continued to try. regain contact with the lander.

The M1 module appeared ready to land autonomously around 1:40 pm (1340 GMT) after coming within 90 meters of the lunar surface, a live animation of telemetry from the lander showed.

At the expected moment of landing, the engineers at Mission Control looked anxious as they waited for the M1’s signal confirmation, but that confirmation never came.

“Our engineers will continue to investigate the situation,” Hakamada said. “At this point, what I can say is that we are very proud that we have already achieved a lot during this mission.”

The company said in a statement on Wednesday from Japan that it believes the spacecraft may have made a “crash landing” on the lunar surface.

The spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a SpaceX rocket in December and completed 8 of 10 mission objectives in space. This will provide valuable data for ispace’s next landing attempt in 2024, Hakamada said.