“Japanese space startup i-Space loses contact with moon lander”

CNN Indonesia

Wednesday, 26 Apr 2023 00:55 WIB

Jakarta, CNNIndonesia —

Space startup company Japani-Space, lost contact with the Hakuto-R moon lander on Wednesday (26/4).

This suggests that his attempt to become the first private company to put a spacecraft on the moon has failed.

“We have not been able to confirm communication with the lander,” a company official said about 25 minutes after the planned touchdown.

“We have to assume that we did not successfully complete the landing on the lunar surface,” the official said.

Previously, i-Space attempted to make history as the first private company to land on the Moon.

If all goes according to plan, i-Space’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 will begin its descent to the lunar surface around 15:40 GMT, Tuesday (25/4).

That initial step would lower its orbit to about 100 kilometers above the Moon, then adjust its speed and altitude to make a “soft landing” about an hour later.

Landing like this is risky. Previously, in April 2019, the Israeli organization SpaceIL witnessed their vehicle fail to land and crash into the lunar surface.

i-Space has announced three alternative landing sites allowing the landings to be pushed back to April 26, May 1 or May 3 depending on conditions.

“What we have achieved so far is a great accomplishment, and we have applied the lessons learned from this flight to our future missions,” i-Space founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said earlier this month.

“I look forward to witnessing this historic day, marking the start of a new era of commercial lunar missions,” he added.

The Hakuto-R Mission 1 that was dispatched was over two meters tall and weighed 340 kilograms. It has been in lunar orbit since last month after being launched from Earth in December after several delays.

(Ju)