NASA orbiter snaps photo of Japanese moon lander wreckage
A private Japanese space company said its moon-landing crash earlier this month happened for a different reason than that of its first spacecraft two years prior.
A faulty altitude sensor doomed its second Hakuto-R mission attempt to land on the moon on June 5, according to Tokyo-based ispace. Now it’s bringing in outsiders to make sure it doesn’t occur again.
In a post-flight analysis announced Tuesday, the company determined its Resilience lander smashed into the lunar surface because its laser range finder failed during descent. The hardware glitch meant the spacecraft didn’t know how close it was to the ground until it was too late to slow down. Everything else — engines, software, power — checked out fine.
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NASA, for its part, had already spotted the wreckage. About a week after the crash, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter passed about 50 miles above the landing site, Mare Frigoris — and snapped a photo of a fresh dark smudge surrounded by a dusty halo: the telltale signature of a spacecraft impact.
"Since the moment of landing, we have remained committed to moving forward and identifying the root causes," said ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada in a statement. "For the past 18 days, every employee has worked tirelessly to be able to transparently share the results of the technical cause analysis."
The company now plans to convene a task force to review the mishap with third-party experts. This panel is expected to help investigate the sensor failure independently and make recommendations for improvements. Ispace also said it will tighten its relationship with Japan’s space agency JAXA and expand testing for future landers.
It’s a costly next step. The added work is expected to bump development expenses up by 1.5 billion yen, or about $9.4 million, for ispace’s next two missions, scheduled to launch in 2027. But ispace says its financial outlook and timelines remain intact.
Resilience had carried a tiny European rover. If the landing had worked, that rover, dubbed Tenacious, would’ve become the first from Europe to explore the moon’s surface. The lander was also supposed to put a decorative red Swedish dollhouse on the moon in the name of art.
As for the little Moonhouse, artist Mikael Genberg said he wants to try again.
"We are very proud of our completion of getting the house to the moon," he told Mashable, then joked, "Perhaps the house fell out and landed as intended."
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Engineers ruled out improper installation of the laser system or any unusual tilt in the lander's orientation, suggesting instead that the device itself was the problem. That's a departure from the cause of ispace's first moon-landing failure in 2023, when the spacecraft ran out of fuel during descent.
Resilience was targeting a northern location on the moon's surface, a less-forboding site than the dark, heavily cratered south pole, where many other countries and companies want to go. The area is known as Mare Frigoris, aka the "Sea of Cold," which stretches across the near side's top. It's a volcanic region interspersed with large faults known as wrinkle ridges.
Still, ispace says it will push forward with its missions 3 and 4. The upcoming missions are part of a growing wave of private lunar efforts, many of which support NASA’s broader Artemis program. Ispace is working with Draper Technologies in Massachusetts on one of those U.S.-led missions, which could help lay the groundwork for delivering cargo — and eventually astronauts — on the moon.
Landing on the moon remains one of spaceflight's most unforgiving challenges. Unlike Earth, its closest space neighbor has almost no atmosphere to slow a spacecraft as it approaches the ground. What's more, there’s no GPS system to help guide it around obstacles.
That leaves engineers 239,000 miles away relying on sensors, preprogrammed maneuvers, and maybe a few prayers to safely complete the journey. Recent U.S.-based commercial missions have seen mixed results: One spacecraft from Firefly Aerospace landed successfully in March, while another from Intuitive Machines tipped over on arrival.
But this spacefaring company isn’t backing off. Its new mission: prove it can stick that landing.
"Ispace will not let this be a setback," Hakamada said. "We will not stop here, but as determined pioneers of the cislunar economy, we will strive to regain the trust of all stakeholders and embark on the next mission."
Topics NASA
Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds. Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email protected] or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers.
