Japan's private lunar lander falls silent while attempting moon touchdown
A private lunar lander from Japan fell silent while descending to the moon with a mini rover on Friday, and its fate was unknown.
The Tokyo-based company ispace said its lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned and everything seemed to be going well. But there was no immediate word on the outcome, following the hour-long descent.
As the tension mounted, the company's live stream of the attempted landing came to an abrupt end. More than two hours later, ispace said it had yet to establish communication with the spacecraft and was still working to gain contact.
The encore came two years after the company's first moon shot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander.
Resilience carried a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist's toy-size red house for placement on the moon's dusty surface.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa speaks standing next to a replica of Resilience, a moon lander built by Japan-based start-up ispace, in Tokyo, Japan, early on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Long the province of governments, the moon became a target of private outfits in 2019, with more flops than wins along the way.
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