The Japanese company Ispace wanted to land on the moon with a moon lander. The mission may have failed.
The Japanese lunar lander Hakuto R was scheduled to touch down on the moon at around 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday. It would have been the world’s first private moon landing. In a live stream, the company showed how the employees were looking forward to the landing.
But then there were long faces: As Takeshi Hakamada, founder and head of Ispace, finally announced, contact with the lander was lost. The technicians would continue to try to restore the connection, Hakamada said at around 7:10 p.m. At the moment it is therefore unclear whether Hakuto R landed safely, whether there was a defect or whether the lander was even completely destroyed.
The Ispace lander should have left its orbit around the moon at around 5:40 p.m. During the landing sequence, the vehicle should brake-fire and fire its main propulsion system to reduce its speed.
The lander, 2.3 meters high and 2.6 meters wide with the landing legs extended, was carrying international cargo, including a small United Arab Emirates rover and an even smaller two-wheeled robot. It was developed by the Japanese state space agency Jaxa and the Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy.
The goal: the development of lunar resources
At the planned landing time, Hakuto R should then touch down in an area called the Atlas Crater.
According to its own statements, Ispace’s goal is to advance the development of lunar resources and to build a business with the transport of goods to the moon. For 2024, the company is planning another use of a moon lander with its own rover. A larger lander is scheduled to start in 2025.
Hakuto means “white rabbit” in Japanese – in Japanese mythology, it lived on the moon. The “R” stands for English reboot, restart. Two American competitors, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are also planning moon missions in the near future.
