Current Events > Japanese start-up's lunar lander believed to have crashed on the moon.

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https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/04/9a37a4f0e0c8-update1-japan-startup-loses-contact-with-lunar-lander-after-approach-attempt.html

Japan startup's lunar lander likely crashed after touchdown attempt

A Japanese space startup said its lander likely crashed on the Moon's surface following a touchdown attempt on Wednesday, dashing its hopes of becoming the world's first private company to reach the lunar surface.

Tokyo-based Ispace Inc. said it lost contact with the spacecraft, launched aboard a rocket developed by U.S. firm SpaceX in December, shortly before it attempted to land on the Moon in the early hours of Wednesday.

With data suggesting the remaining fuel in the spacecraft was running out and that its descent speed rapidly increased shortly afterward, "there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing on the Moon's surface," it said in a statement.

The landing, if it had been successful, would also have marked Japan's first-ever lunar landing. The country's space agency failed to put the ultra-small space probe Omotenashi on the Moon last year.

Although a successful lunar landing was not achieved this time, "We believe that we have fully accomplished the significance of this mission, having acquired a great deal of data and experience by being able to execute the landing phase," Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace, said in the statement.

Hakamada told a press conference later in the day that the mission was a "big step forward" for its future space exploration.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government will continue to support space programs by startups, posting on Twitter, "We will continue to support Japanese startups' never-ending challenge in space."

The company launched the lander as part of the first stage of its Hakuto-R exploration program, hoping to use the technology for lunar surface data collection and cargo transportation services to the Moon.

The spacecraft was carrying seven payloads, including a rover from the United Arab Emirates and a small transformable robot chiefly developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and toy company Tomy Co.

An Ispace official told the press conference it is difficult at the moment to confirm the status of the payloads.

The Mission 1 Lander, about 2.3 meters in height and 2.6 meters in width, began descending from about 100 kilometers above the Moon surface at 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, Japan time.

It decelerated in steps from a velocity of some 6,000 km per hour, approaching the Atlas crater in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon, according to the company...

at some point there will be so much junk on the moon it gets too heavy and falls onto Sweden.

BurmesePenguin posted...

at some point there will be so much junk on the moon it gets too heavy and falls onto Sweden.

This will unfortunately cause their fish canneries to explode whereupon the air all over the world will forever smell of surstrmming.

GaryGensler posted...

"We will continue to support Japanese startups' never-ending challenge in space."

Jesus

Not sure if he intended it but the "never-ending" makes it sound passive aggressive as fuck

BurmesePenguin posted...

at some point there will be so much junk on the moon it gets too heavy and falls onto Sweden.

its okay because they'll send Bruce Willis up there to use his drilling skills to divert it to Florida

metallica846 posted...

Landing on the moon is difficult.

America did it in 1969 with technology that is only a fraction as powerful as the phone in your pocket.

^_~

It should be visible then

I mean it land on the moon.

So they think anyway! :D