Ispace Gains Valuable Data Despite Lunar Lander Fail

Artist’s impression shows HAKUTO-R Mission 1 (Photo © ispace)

Space robotics firm ispace lost connection with its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander,  after a suspected hard landing.

The lander was expected to land on the surface of the Moon at 1:40 am Japanese Standard Time on 26 April. 

“The lander had reached the final approach to the lunar surface, but shortly after the scheduled landing time, no data was received indicating a touchdown,” ispace wrote in a press statement

On Wednesday, engineers were analysing the telemetry data acquired until the end of the landing sequence to determine the cause of the situation. Based on initial data, ispace suspects that a hard landing caused the failure. 

The firm, which has offices in Luxembourg, achieved nine of its goals in this first mission, providing “valuable data and know-how for future lunar exploration” which it will use in its second (2024) and third missions (2025).

As of yet, no private commercial company has successfully carried out a lunar landing, a feat that only the space agencies of the US, Soviet Union and China have achieved.

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