NASA Finds Crash Site of Japanese Company ispace’s Lunar Lander

NASA has reportedly found out where the lunar lander of the Japanese company ispace came to rest. Detailed images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show four large craters on the moon, which were probably created precisely as a result of the hard impact of the device in question.

LRO flew by the area the day after the failed landing attempt and took a total of ten images covering an area roughly 40 X 45 km in size.

The researchers then compared these images with those taken from the same location before impact and discovered “an unusual surface change near the nominal landing site.”

“This site will be further analyzed in the coming months as LRO will have the opportunity to change its rendering under different lighting and imaging geometries,” it is stated i.a. in an official statement.

This was not the first time that the LRO detected the remains of landers that were destroyed while trying to land on the surface of our natural satellite. For example, in 2019 he determined the crash site of the Beresheet lander, and a little later that year he discovered the wreckage of India’s Vikram.

It must be added that ispace, despite the unsuccessful first attempt, is not going to give up. “We will continue. We will never give up,” stated its founder Hakeshi Hakamada.