Fate of Japanese ispace Moon landing mission unknown
The ispace mission launched in January aboard a SpaceX rocket, which also carried the Blue Ghost moon lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace. Firefly achieved the first commercial upright landing in March.
ispace robotic lander orbits the Moon
A compilation of lunar scenes taken by the Japanese ispace Resilience Moon lander while in orbit around the Moon. The mission is expected to touch down on June 6, 2025.
Japanese company ispace is waiting to learn the status of its commercial Moon landing attempt after being unable to communicate with the Reslience lander after the planned touchdown time.
The company hoped to make an epic comeback this week by landing a robotic mission on a region of the Moon known as the Sea of Cold.
Two years ago, the company attempted to make the first commercial Moon landing but lost communication with the HAKUTO-R Mission 1. On Friday (Thursday EST), the second Hakuto mission, nicknamed Resilience, is set to touch down on a 3.5 billion-year-old volcanic region of the Moon known as Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold.
"Since that time, we have drawn on the experience, using it as motivation to move forward with resolve. We are now at the dawn of our next attempt to make history," ispace Founder & CEO Takeshi Hakamada said two days before the landing attempt.
The lunar south pole taken by the ispace mission in 2025.
(ispace)
However, about an hour after the targeted touchdown on Thursday at 3:17 p.m. EST (Friday 4:17 a.m. JST), engineers at the mission control center (MCC) in Tokyo were still working to confirm the status of the spacecraft.
"We haven’t been able to confirm but MCC engineers continue to attempt to contact the lander," an ispace commentator said before the live event on X ended. "Never quit the lunar quest."
If successful, Resilience will mark the second Moon landing launched from the same rocket. The ispace mission launched on Jan. 15 aboard a SpaceX rocket, which also carried the Blue Ghost moon lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace.
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In February, Firefly’s lander successfully touched down, becoming the first American commercial mission to achieve an upright landing on the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace lunar lander captures view from Moon's far side
This video taken by Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander shows the far side of the Moon from about 75 miles above the surface. Blue Ghost is set to touch down on the Moon in early March.
Resilience is carrying the first European-built Moon lander named Tenacious. The rover was designed and built by ispace’s Luxembourg subsidiary. If successful, both missions will spend two weeks operating on the surface of the Moon.
The private lunar landing attempt is the third this year.
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Intuitive Machines, another Texas company, landed its second mission on the Moon in March. However, both landers toppled over and did not remain upright for lunar science operations.
Ahead of the anticipated lunar landing, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a photo of the intended landing site. While this is not a NASA mission, ispace will use the Tenacious rover to collect photos of the surface of the Moon to eventually collect lunar regolith samples under a NASA contract as part of the Artemis program.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) imaged the landing area of the ispace SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon Mission 2 RESILIENCE lunar lander.
(Goddard Space / NASA)