Japan space ambitions dealt another blow after ispace Inc moon landing fails
TOKYO (Bloomberg): Tokyo-based ispace Inc.'s second lunar lander attempt failed after it lost contact, a blow to Japan's burgeoning commercial space industry.
Ispace's Resilience lander did not decelerate in time, and it was highly likely it made a hard landing on the moon, according to executives. The company's shares were set to fall by their daily limit in Tokyo Friday.
The landing attempt, whose live stream was watched by more than 17,000 people, was heralded as a sign of a renaissance in Japan's space operations. Its failure casts a cloud on ispace's next mission, with executives saying the impact there is uncertain.
Loss of contact just before the lander was expected to touch down brought founder and Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Hakamada close to tears. "But I don't think this is the time to cry,' he said at a news conference. "We need to resolve these issues and achieve results in the next Mission 3 and Mission 4.'
The mission follows a failed attempt in 2023 when a programming error led to a crash of the spacecraft. If the attempt had succeeded, ispace would have been the first non-US company to park a spacecraft safely on the moon. Texas-based rivals Intuitive Machines Inc. and Firefly Aerospace Inc. have already done so, as countries race to explore the moon.
Comparing ispace's results with those of its US rivals, "We are forced to acknowledge that we've fallen a step behind,' Chief Financial Officer Jumpei Nozaki said.
The Japanese lander launched into space aboard one of Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in January. The rocket also launched a lander from Firefly that touched down on the lunar surface in March.
Resilience was expected to dispatch its rover, named Tenacious, which is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel to collect lunar regolith and transmit data back to the lander. Ispace signed a contract in 2020 with NASA to provide the US agency with regolith collected on the moon's surface.
Aboard the lander are customer payloads with varying purposes including a commemorative plate from Bandai Namco Research Institute Inc. - an affiliate of the entertainment company behind game brands like Pac Man and Gundam - and experimental equipment such as a device to extract hydrogen from water.
Receipt of as much as ¥238 million ($1.7 million) of the estimated $16 million payload may now be in jeopardy, the company said.
Ispace plans to send its landers more frequently to the moon starting in 2027, with an aim to transport payloads two or three times a year, according to Hakamada. The plan is based on his belief that humans could start making a living on the moon as early as the 2040s.
Hakamada said in an interview before the landing attempt that Japan will lose out on opportunities to seek fresh growth if it refuses to accept failures as a course of nature.
"It'd be a huge loss for our society if failures only discourage bold attempts and trials,' he said.
--With assistance from Mayumi Negishi, Gareth Allan and Kana Nishizawa.
-- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Fifth Avenue Financial celebrates third consecutive year as a Best Place to Work and first year as a Best Place to Work for Women in 2025
NEW YORK, US - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 August 2025 - Fifth Avenue Financial (FAF) is proud to announce its recertification as one of thefor the third consecutive year, as well as its inaugural recognition as ain 2025. These prestigious honors underscore the firm's ongoing commitment to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and empowering workplace culture."Being recertified as one of the Best Places to Work — and earning special recognition as one of the Best Places for Women — reflects the culture we've built together. We believe that when people feel valued, supported, and inspired, they can achieve extraordinary things for our clients and for each other.""This recognition means a lot to us because it's about our people. We've worked hard to build a place where everyone feels respected, supported, and able to grow. Knowing that women in our firm feel they can truly thrive here is especially meaningful."FAF continues to prioritize employee well-being and professional development, ensuring that all team members have the resources and encouragement needed to excel. The Best Places to Work certifications validate the firm's dedication to cultivating a workplace where diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of its is a global recognition awarded to companies that excel in creating exceptional workplace cultures where employees feel engaged, valued, and motivated. The certification process combines anonymous employee surveys with an in-depth HR assessment to evaluate both the employee experience and the organization's HR practices. Companies that meet the program's rigorous standards are certified for one year, benefiting from enhanced employer brand credibility, valuable benchmarking insights, and international visibility as a trusted and attractive more information, about Fifth Avenue Financial visit: For more information about the certification program, please visit Hashtag: #BestPlacestoWork The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
French firm teams up with JetZero on hydrogen-powered flight
An H2 logo is pictured at the Hyvolution exhibition in Paris, France, January 28, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) -A French technology startup unveiled plans on Wednesday to work with clean-aircraft venture JetZero to explore a potential hydrogen-powered variant of its futuristic all-wing design. The move by SHZ Advanced Technologies is likely to rekindle a debate over the potential for zero-emission flight, six months after Europe's Airbus put the brakes on plans to develop the world's first hydrogen-powered airliner. California-based JetZero aims to challenge the traditional duopoly of Airbus and Boeing by developing a so-called blended wing-body aircraft, which it claims will be able to cut fuel consumption - and therefore carbon emissions - in half. JetZero and SHZ now plan to work together under a NASA research programme to design systems capable of storing and distributing liquid hydrogen fuel, which could eliminate carbon emissions altogether and evolve into a variant of JetZero's Z4. Hydrogen is prized for its carbon-free emissions and high energy related to mass, which makes it lighter than normal fuel. However, it also takes up much more volume and must be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius, making storage a significant challenge. JetZero's blended wing-body design features a V-shaped fuselage that acts as a wing and reduces friction in the air, rather than the familiar wings and cylindrical fuselage. "Due to the wider fuselage, the airframe is far more compatible with (liquid hydrogen) fuel tanks without sacrificing passenger seating, as a 'tube and wing' airplane would," SHZ Advanced Technologies said on Wednesday. Airbus said in February it was slowing down efforts to produce a hydrogen-powered regional plane and dropped a target date of 2035, blaming a lack of supporting infrastructure. Boeing, by contrast, has been cool on the commercial viability of hydrogen flight altogether. The concept of a blended wing-body design has been around since the 1940s and led to the U.S. B-2 bomber, as well as the X-48 research project between Boeing and NASA some 18 years ago. JetZero is revisiting such designs as the aviation industry struggles to meet a target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Airbus has argued that combining such radical changes to the shape of a plane with an entirely new propulsion system would be too ambitious, and is focusing instead on hydrogen-based fuel cells inside a normal tubular aircraft configuration. But SHZ Advanced Technologies' co-founder Eric Schulz - a former senior executive at Rolls-Royce and Airbus - said JetZero would approach the task in two phases with the initial focus on a conventionally powered all-wing plane. Any hydrogen-based variant would come in a second step, he told Reuters. The French firm says it has developed hydrogen tanks that save space by avoiding the usual cylindrical shape needed for pressurised vessels and can fit more easily into the flowing contours of the Z4's fuselage. JetZero, whose backers include United Airlines, said in June it was on track to fly a full-scale prototype of the revolutionary 250-passenger airplane in 2027. (Reporting by Tim HepherEditing by Mark Potter)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Porsche-backed Group14 closes new funding, takes control of JV's battery material plant
An electric vehicle charging location is shown from the view of a drone in Carlsbad, California, U.S., May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo (Reuters) -Group14 Technologies said on Wednesday it had raised $463 million in its latest financing round led by South Korean investment firm SK, as the silicon-based battery material startup aims to scale up production. The startup said it also acquired the remaining 75% stake in its joint venture with SK, gaining full ownership of manufacturing operations for its silicon battery material in South Korea. The Woodinville, Washington-based company makes silicon-carbon composite material or SCC55, which can replace graphite anodes in lithium-ion batteries, enabling them to charge more quickly and hold more energy. Demand for electric vehicles and advanced technologies has driven steady investor interest in the battery materials sector, with multiple companies competing to attract funding. Venture capital firms are also increasingly targeting alternative battery materials companies, which have the potential to reduce the cost and size of battery packs, similar to the technology developed by Group14. The company did not reveal the valuation for its latest funding in its statement, but a source familiar with the matter told Reuters it was higher than the startup's value of more than $1 billion in a 2022 round. The battery materials manufacturer had secured $614 million in its extended series C round in 2022, and the latest series D funding brings the total equity raised to more than $1 billion, the company said. The new round, series D, also saw participation from existing investors such as Porsche Investments, ATL, OMERS, Decarbonization Partners, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund and Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The battery active material (BAM) factory in South Korea produces Group14's SCC55 at EV scale. The company now fully owns three BAM factories, with the other two located in Washington. "We're strengthening regional battery supply chains and safeguarding our customers from global trade uncertainty," CEO Rick Luebbe said. (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
