Private Moon City Dreams Stumble After Another Failed Landing
Before humanity can vacation or settle on the moon, we need to land there safely—and that's proving harder than it sounds. A private Japanese space firm's second attempt to place a probe on the lunar surface has failed, bringing its ambitious dream of a 1,000-person moon colony another step back.
The company, ispace, lost communication with its Resilience lander Thursday, ABC News reported. The loss happened mere moments before its scheduled touchdown in a region of the moon known as the Sea of Cold.
After months in space and years of preparation, the mission is officially over with no objectives met. The lander, which launched on Jan. 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, had spent nearly five months in transit before the high-stakes descent.
It marks the company's second failure. In 2023, ispace lost its first lander in the final moments of its descent. Engineers are now combing through telemetry data to identify what went wrong this time.
'Given that there is currently no prospect of a successful lunar landing, our top priority is to swiftly analyze the telemetry data we have obtained,' said founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada.
Resilience was carrying commercial and scientific payloads, including a water electrolyzer to extract hydrogen and oxygen from lunar ice, a deep-space radiation probe, and an algae module to explore potential food sources. If it had landed, it would've also deployed a rover called Tenacious, which was equipped with a miniature sculpture titled 'Moonhouse.'
The ultimate goal is to mine water on the moon and convert it into fuel, enabling frequent lunar transport and, eventually, habitation. It's a bold vision, but until ispace proves it can land on the moon, the dream remains out of reach.
'We strongly believe this endeavor and its long-term success will contribute to making life on Earth sustainable for all humanity,' said Hakamada.Private Moon City Dreams Stumble After Another Failed Landing first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 6, 2025
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