Japanese Resilience mission fails: iSpace module fails to reach the Moon for the second time
6 June 15:53
The Japanese company iSpace has reported that its unmanned Resilience lander has most likely crashed during an attempt to land on the moon. This is the second failed mission of the company in the last two years, Reuters writes with reference to the company’s statement, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The project was supposed to be part of Japan’s commercial breakthrough in space, along with the American firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace, which have already managed to make successful landings. However, after losing contact with the module after a critical phase of the landing, iSpace experts concluded that the vehicle had crashed on the lunar surface.
The company reported that Resilience was unable to accurately determine the height above the surface, failed to brake in time during the descent, and probably made a hard landing. Possible causes include a malfunction of the propulsion system, software, or sensors, said Ryo Uijie, the company’s CTO.
The vehicle was transporting a Luxembourg-made four-wheeled rover and five other payloads totaling $16 million. Among them are scientific instruments from Japanese companies and a Taiwanese university. The landing was planned to take place in the Frigoris Sea, on a basalt plain about 900 km from the North Pole.
Despite the setback, Japan retains ambitions within the Artemis program, which is led by the United States. Last year, the country became the fifth in the world to make a soft landing on the Moon, with the state-owned SLIM module successfully completing the mission.
The Japanese government has also signed an agreement with NASA to have its astronauts participate in future lunar missions and supports commercial infrastructure development projects on the Moon, including those involving iSpace.
