ALBAWABA- Ispace, a Japanese space company, has lost contact with its lunar lander, indicating that it may have crashed into the surface of the moon.
The lunar exploration company has been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company wrote in a December 11 post. Before losing contact, the company shared mission updates on its Twitter account, including an image of the lunar Earthrise on Monday.
We’ve received another incredible photo from the camera onboard our Mission 1 lander!
— ispace (@ispace_inc) April 24, 2023
Seen here is the lunar Earthrise during solar eclipse, captured by the lander-mounted camera at an altitude of about 100 km from the lunar surface. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/pNSI4lPnux
The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander was supposed to land in Atlas Crater on the moon's near side, but no signal was received from the spacecraft after the planned touchdown. The lander could not return to higher orbit for another try, and engineers have been unable to confirm whether it was able to complete the landing. The Ispace lander was carrying payloads from several entities, including a lunar robot, a rover, an artificial intelligence flight computer, and 360-degree cameras.
The loss of the lander could be a significant setback for the new paradigm of space exploration, in which governments, research institutions, and companies are booking trips to the moon for their cargo. The Ispace lander was set to be the first step in this new paradigm. Other attempts to land spacecraft on the moon have also failed, including the Beresheet lander from Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and India's Vikram lander. However, the US, the Soviet Union, and China have successfully landed robotic spacecraft on the lunar surface in the past.
BREAKING: Japan's ispace says Moon landing may have failed, no contact with spacecraft pic.twitter.com/afscUiPSJ9
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) April 25, 2023
Engineers are continuing to investigate what may have gone wrong with the Ispace lander, and the data from the landing phase may be invaluable for the company's next two missions. Two more commercial landers, financed by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, are scheduled to be launched later this year. One is by Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, and the other is by Intuitive Machines of Houston. If the Ispace lander crashed, it may take some time to understand what happened. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter may be able to find the lander's resting place in the Atlas Crater.
