{"id":279398,"date":"2025-06-07T13:23:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T13:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/the-resilience-spacecraft-likely-crashed-on-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T13:23:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T13:23:42","slug":"the-resilience-spacecraft-likely-crashed-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=279398","title":{"rendered":"The Resilience Spacecraft Likely Crashed on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Early reports suggest that an issue with the Japanese lander\u2019s sensors prevented it from sufficiently slowing down<\/h2>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ispace posted a video of Resilience circling the moon shortly before it lost contact with the lander.\u00a0
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Ispace\u2019s Resilience lander\u2019s months-long journey to the moon ended in a crash yesterday, dashing the Japanese firm\u2019s hopes of becoming the first non-American commercial lander to touch down on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

The lander was supposed to settle<\/a>\u00a0on Mare Frigoris, a narrow lunar plain on the moon\u2019s northern region, around 3:17 p.m. Eastern. But mission control lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after it started its descent.<\/p>\n

A laser tool used by the spacecraft to measure Resilience\u2019s distance from the surface was experiencing delays, Ispace says in a statement<\/a>. The malfunction likely prevented the lander from slowing down enough, resulting in a hard landing on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, we do not know clearly about the cause,\u201d said Ispace chief executive Takeshi Hakamada, the chief executive of Ispace in translated remarks, reports Kenneth Chang for the New York Times<\/em><\/a>. The company is working on analyzing the telemetry data it has obtained so far to pinpoint the exact problem, he adds in a statement.<\/p>\n

This is Ispace\u2019s second failed lunar landing. In 2023, its spacecraft crashed into the lunar surface because of a software issue. Despite these two setbacks, Ispace does not seem to be giving up, pointing to SpaceX\u2019 success. \u201cSpaceX has also failed several times, but now SpaceX occupies the launching market,\u201d Hakamada said in a news conference yesterday, reports Jackie Wattles for CNN<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resilience took off on January 15<\/a> aboard a SpaceX rocket carrying another commercial lander, Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost. Blue Ghost touched down on the moon in March<\/a> and completed its mission, but Resilience took a longer route to the moon. That longer, slower journey appears to have not paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our second failure, and about these results, we have to really take it seriously,\u201d Hakamada said in translated remarks, per CNN<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Resilience carried five payloads, including a water electrolyzer experiment, a food production experiment, and a deep-space radiation probe. A rover named Tenacious carrying an artwork by artist Mikael Genberg will also never be deployed. The work<\/a>, a tiny replica of a Swedish house, was supposed to be lowered onto the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

For now, Ispace will have to look ahead. The company plans to launch another lunar mission by 2027. The firm is working alongside the Cambridge-based Draper on a lander called Apex 1.0 as part of NASA\u2019s Artemis<\/a> program, which plans to return humans to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. \u201cWe want to keep talking to NASA, but that also will depend on NASA, so we won\u2019t know yet,\u201d Hakamada said at the news conference.<\/p>\n

“We know it’s not going to be easy,” said Ispace director and chief financial officer Jumpei Nozaki during a press conference, reports Mike Wall for Space.com<\/a>. “But it’s hard. It has some meaning and significance of trying.”<\/p>\n

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