Japan's private space company ispace experienced another setback on Thursday 5th June when its Resilience lunar lander crashed into the surface of the Moon, marking the company's second consecutive failed landing attempt in just over two years.
The uncrewed spacecraft was attempting to touch down in Mare Frigoris, or the "Sea of Cold," a vast basaltic plain in the Moon's northern region around 3:17 p.m. ET on June 5th. More than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, and government officials watched anxiously at a public viewing event in Tokyo as flight data was suddenly lost less than two minutes before the scheduled touchdown time.
According to ispace officials, the preliminary data suggests the lander's laser rangefinder experienced delays in obtaining accurate distance measurements to the lunar surface, preventing Resilience from slowing down for a safe landing. The spacecraft had successfully descended from about 100 kilometres to 20 kilometres above the surface and fired its main engine as planned, but something went wrong during the final critical phase.
“Based on these circumstances, it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing on the lunar surface.” - ispace spokesperson This failure is somewhat similar to ispace's first attempt in April 2023, when their Hakuto-R lander also crashed during its final descent. However, company executives stressed that while both missions failed due to altitude measurement issues, the specific technical problems appear to be different.
Resilience had launched in January aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket alongside Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander, which took a faster trajectory to the Moon and successfully landed in March this year. The Japanese spacecraft chose a slower, more fuel-efficient route that took nearly five months to reach its destination.
The mission carried significant scientific value, including a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg based subsidiary and five external payloads worth $16 million, featuring experiments from Japanese companies and a Taiwanese university. The lander was also contracted by NASA to collect lunar regolith samples during what was planned to be a 14-day surface mission.
Despite the setback, ispace isn't giving up. The company has already secured funding for a third attempt and is collaborating with US-based Draper on the Apex 1.0 lander, scheduled to target the Moon's far side as soon as 2027. The commercial space race to the Moon continues, but Thursday's crash serves as another reminder of just how challenging lunar exploration remains.
Source : iSpace Mission Website