A Japanese company, ispace, recently reported that their lunar lander crashed into the moon earlier this month due to a malfunctioning laser navigating tool. Officials announced the news from Tokyo, noting that this crash marked the second failure for the company in two years. The lander, named Resilience, was attempting to reach the moon’s Mare Frigoris, also known as the Sea of Cold, when it failed. Company representatives indicated that the crash was caused by the lander's laser range finder, which did not accurately measure the distance to the lunar surface. They explained that Resilience was descending at a rapid speed of 138 feet (42 meters) per second when they lost contact, resulting in a crash just moments later.
They recalled that a similar issue had caused their first lunar lander to crash in 2023, with the problem arising during the final descent phase.
Moon landing by private companies
Among the seven moon landing attempts by private companies in recent years, only one has achieved total success: Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander, which landed successfully in March after launching alongside Resilience in January on a SpaceX rocket from Florida.
Besides Firefly, only five countries have successfully landed on the moon: the Soviet Union, the US, China, India, and Japan. Notably, the US remains the only country to have sent astronauts to the moon during NASA's Apollo program over fifty years ago.
Third moon landing
Despite the setbacks of back-to-back failures, ispace intends to move forward with a third moon landing attempt planned for 2027, in collaboration with NASA, and has also scheduled a fourth mission. The CEO and founder, Takeshi Hakamada, emphasized that the company has not backed down in the face of adversity and is committed to regaining the trust of its customers, stating that they are resolutely taking the next step toward future missions.
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