A Japanese space company's attempt to make lunar history appears to have failed. Its lander made what it calls a "hard landing," and communication with it has been lost.
The vehicle, developed by ispace, lifted off in December on a rocket from the US firm SpaceX.
The craft had entered orbit about 100 kilometers above the moon's surface on April 13. It was supposed to land near a crater in the moon's northern hemisphere at around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, Japan time.
The company says it has not been able to establish communication with the craft since its scheduled time of landing.
The engineers say the craft seems to have failed to correctly calculate its altitude from the surface of the moon. They estimate that its remaining fuel ran out and it likely crashed on the moon's surface.
They say the landing had gone as planned until the craft approached the landing spot while adjusting its altitude and decelerating using retro-rockets.
The Tokyo-based venture firm held a news conference Wednesday morning. Hakamada Takeshi, a founder and CEO of ispace said, "We maintained communication with the lander until just before it landed on the moon's surface. I think that's a very big achievement."
The former Soviet Union and the United States carried out successful unmanned lunar landings in 1966 as national projects. China did so in 2013.
The vehicle, developed by ispace, lifted off in December on a rocket from the US firm SpaceX.
The craft had entered orbit about 100 kilometers above the moon's surface on April 13. It was supposed to land near a crater in the moon's northern hemisphere at around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, Japan time.
The company says it has not been able to establish communication with the craft since its scheduled time of landing.
The engineers say the craft seems to have failed to correctly calculate its altitude from the surface of the moon. They estimate that its remaining fuel ran out and it likely crashed on the moon's surface.
They say the landing had gone as planned until the craft approached the landing spot while adjusting its altitude and decelerating using retro-rockets.
The Tokyo-based venture firm held a news conference Wednesday morning. Hakamada Takeshi, a founder and CEO of ispace said, "We maintained communication with the lander until just before it landed on the moon's surface. I think that's a very big achievement."
The former Soviet Union and the United States carried out successful unmanned lunar landings in 1966 as national projects. China did so in 2013.
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Summary
Ispace's lunar lander, launched by SpaceX in December, failed to communicate after a "hard landing" on the moon. The craft entered orbit 100 km above the surface and was expected to land near a northern crater at 1:40 a.m., JST. Engineers suspect it miscalculated altitude upon descent, exhausting
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ID: ce4d848b-fc85-4447-85f3-d50ef522d1bc
Category ID: nhk
URL: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230426_21/
Date: April 26, 2023
Created: 2023/04/26 21:04
Updated: 2025/12/09 04:36
Last Read: 2023/04/27 19:56