Japanese firm yet to establish communications with lunar lander
A Tokyo-based venture company says it has yet to establish communications with its lunar lander that attempted to touch down on the Moon. It is aiming to become Japan's first private firm to have a craft successfully land on the lunar surface.
The company, ispace, made the announcement shortly after 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Japan time. That was about 15 minutes after the spacecraft's planned landing time.
The lander started to descend toward the lunar surface after 3 a.m. and was scheduled to touch down on a crater-less flat area in the Moon's northern hemisphere. The target landing site is part of the region called Mare Frigoris.
A rocket carrying the craft lifted off from a launch site in the US state of Florida in January. The lander entered orbit about 100 kilometers above the Moon in late May.
The company had failed in its first lunar landing attempt in 2023. It later overhauled its lander's control system and changed the touchdown target for the second attempt.
Competition in lunar exploration has been intensifying. A US space exploration company became the first private firm to have an uncrewed lander successfully perform a lunar touchdown last year. Another US company followed suit in March this year.
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