“Japanese Company “ispace” Fails to Land on Moon with First UAE Lunar Rover Aboard”

The Japanese company “ispace” lost contact with its spacecraft shortly before it landed on the surface of the moon and the mission apparently failed.

Communications were lost as the spacecraft made its last ten meters at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. Flight controllers in Tokyo waited for several minutes, but it also did not receive any signals from the spacecraft.

“We have to accept that we could not complete the landing on the surface of the moon,” said ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada.

If the spacecraft had landed, ispace would have been the first private company to land on the moon.

The spacecraft developed by the company included a Japanese robot and the first United Arab Emirates (UAE) lunar rover.

The spaceship launched in December on a rocket of the private company “SpaceX” from Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida.

So far, only the United States, Russia and China have managed to place robots on the surface of the Moon.