“Ispace’s Attempt to Land a Commercial Spacecraft on the Moon Fails”

The first ever attempt to land a commercial spacecraft on the moon has probably failed. International news agencies report this on Tuesday. The Japanese technology company ispace, which developed the device, lost contact with Hakuto-R, as the vehicle is called, just before the planned landing. It is still unclear what happened to the unmanned aircraft. Ispace says it will investigate this.

Communications between ispace and the craft came to an end when Hakuto-R had to travel the last 10 meters to the moon. The device did this at a speed of about 25 kilometers per hour. Flight controllers would have looked blankly at their screens when they heard nothing more from the craft. Takeshi Hakamada, president of the company, said not much later that they “assume we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface.”

Hakuto-R was launched last December for a test flight to the Atlas crater in the northeastern part of the moon’s near side. In mid-March, the device entered lunar orbit, taking pictures of Earth along the way. The purpose of ispace is to enable commercial flights for other space agencies. Hakamada immediately announced on Tuesday that a second mission will take place next year.

In addition to the Japanese company, the United Arab Emirates also had an interest in a successful landing. A moon rover on board the Hakuto-R came from that country. The United Arab Emirates already has a scientific satellite orbiting Mars and an astronaut from that country has already climbed aboard the International Space Station. With the lunar rover, the UAE wanted to further expand their presence in space.