The lander crashed during descent onto the moon’s surface. Photo: Reuters
Japan’s private space mission has failed once again as the lander from the Japanese space company iSpace crashed during descent on the moon on Friday morning, according to the company. The Tokyo-based firm reported that the lander, named ‘Resilience,’ failed to land at the designated speed because it couldn’t accurately measure the altitude of the moon’s surface, resulting in loss of communication. British news agency Reuters reported the incident.
iSpace’s Chief Technology Officer, Ryo Ujiie, said in a press conference that multiple types of technical problems might have occurred, including failures in the propulsion system, software, hardware, or sensors.
With the failure of the Resilience lander, Japan’s private lunar exploration has once again hit a prolonged pause. However, the country remains committed to the U.S.-led Artemis program, and many Japanese companies still view the moon as a new frontier for business.
Flight data was lost nearly two minutes before landing. As a result, silence fell over more than 500 employees, investors, and government officials gathered at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank’s mission partner center in Tokyo.
To cope with the selling pressure, iSpace’s stock trading was suspended. Sources indicated that the stock could fall by as much as 29 percent, hitting the daily limit. As of the close of trading on Thursday, the company’s market value stood at 1.1 trillion yen (766 million USD).
However, iSpace’s Chief Financial Officer, Jumpei Nozaki, stated that despite the crash, the company faces no financial crisis and continues to receive consistent support from investors.
In 2023, iSpace’s first lunar lander also met with a similar accident. Although a software update was made to fix altitude detection issues, the Resilience lander did not undergo significant hardware changes.
Resilience carried a four-wheeled rover developed by iSpace’s Luxembourg unit. It also contained five scientific instruments sent by Japanese companies and a Taiwanese university, collectively valued at 16 million USD.
The lander’s destination was a basaltic plain named “Mare Frigoris,” located approximately 900 kilometers from the moon’s north pole. If the landing had succeeded, the 2.3-meter-tall lander and rover would have conducted a 14-day sample collection and exploration mission under a contract with NASA.
Resilience was launched into space in January aboard a SpaceX rocket. The same rocket also carried the United States’ Firefly Blue Ghost lander, which successfully landed in March after entering a high-speed orbit.
Earlier, U.S. company Intuitive Machines became the first to commercially land on the moon. This year, their second lander, Athena, also landed, although it tipped over upon landing.
Last year, Japan successfully completed a soft landing through the national space agency JAXA’s “SLIM” lander, making it the fifth country in the world to achieve such a feat. Following that, an agreement was signed between Japan and NASA, allowing Japanese astronauts to participate in the Artemis program and collaborate in private research initiatives.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba posted on X, stating that their hopes surrounding iSpace are not over yet.
However, Professor Kazuto Saiki of Ritsumeikan University believes that since multiple failures have occurred in private missions, some Japanese companies might now consider using services from foreign firms.
iSpace plans to launch a larger third lander built in the United States by 2027, which will be part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The company plans to carry out six missions in total across Japan and the U.S. by 2029.
iSpace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said, “We are ready to meet NASA’s demand for cost-effective missions amid the budget cuts proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. That’s why we’ll continue to fully support our U.S. unit.”