Japanese Startup's Spacecraft Lost During Moon Landing Attempt

A Japanese lunar mission failed after a historic yet incomplete landing attempt.

Startup company Ispace attempted the first private moon landing. In a statement, the company announced it lost communication with the uncrewed Hakuto-R lunar lander, ending a four-month-long mission. The lander was also carrying the Rashid rover, which the Guardian reports was the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft, constructed by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai.

Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters, “We have not confirmed communication with the lander. … We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface.”

Hakamada confirmed that the team was able to gather data from the ship up until the landing was supposed to occur, itself a “great achievement” that will better inform subsequent Ispace missions.

The lander has been in the lunar orbit since last month. Standing just over two meters tall and weighing 340 kg, the vessel was programmed to automatically reestablish communication as soon as it landed.

The U.S., Russia, and China are the only countries to successfully land a rover on the moon’s soil, each being programmed through government organizations. America is the only country to have humans walk on the moon.

SpaceIL, an Israeli org, made a similar attempt but wound up seeing its lander crash. The same results occurred with India.

U.S. companies Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines are scheduled to land on the moon later this year. The former took to Twitter to comment on today’s news.

“We congratulate the [Ispace Inc.] team on accomplishing a significant number of milestones on their way to today’s landing attempt. We hope everyone recognizes – today is not the day to shy away from pursuing the lunar frontier, but a chance to learn from adversity and push forward.”