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DW
2 days ago
- Business
- DW
Japan's ispace fails second lunar landing mission – DW – 06/06/2025
Japanese startup failed to land its unmanned Resilience craft on the moon. The mission was aborted as it was likely the craft had crashed after losing contact. Japan'sprivate moon mission was aborted on Friday after it was presumed that the unmanned Resilience spacecraft had crashed. Tokyo-based startup ispace had launched the mission in hopes of becoming the first private company outside the United States to achieve a controlled lunar landing. Lunar lander crashed into moon The Resilience spacecraft had begun its final descent, successfully firing its main engine "as planned to begin deceleration," ispace said. Mission control reported that the craft's position was "nearly vertical," but contact was then lost. ispace stated that the spacecraft had likely failed to decelerate sufficiently to reach the speed required for a soft lunar landing. "Based on the currently available data... it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing. It is unlikely that communication with the lander will be restored, so it has been decided to conclude the mission," ispace said in a statement. Before signing off, the livestream announcers said, "never quit the lunar quest." A new time: Clocks on the moon To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Less than two minutes before the scheduled landing, the once-celebratory gathering of 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors, and government officials fell into stunned silence as contact with the spacecraft was lost. ispace had also organized a public viewing event. Image: Manami Yamada/REUTERS "Expectations for ispace will not waver," Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba posted on X. Second failed attempt Two years ago, another lunar missionby the company had also ended in a crash. CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters he took the second failed attempt "seriously" and intended to use the outcome to inform future missions. He said they had a "strong will to move on, although we have to carefully analyze what happened." Resilience carried a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary, along with five external payloads valued at a total of $16 million. The planned landing site was Mare Frigoris, a plain about 900 km (560 miles) from the moon's north pole. Lunar landings remain challenging due to the moon's rugged terrain. To date, only five nations have successfully achieved soft lunar landings: Russia, US, China, India and Japan. Private companies have recently entered the race to the moon, and ispace would have been the third such company to achieve it. The mission wanted to collect two lunar soil samples and sell them to NASA for $5,000 (€4373). In January, Resilience shared a SpaceX rocket launch with Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, which touched down successfully in March. A moon landing attempt by US-based company Intuitive Machines failed in March this year. IDEFIX rover and JAXA's mission to the moons of Mars To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Louis Oelofse
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Japan's ispace fails again: Resilience lander crashes on moon
A model of the lunar lander "Resilience", operated by 'ispace', is displayed at a venue where employees of 'ispace' monitored its attempted landing on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, June 6, 2025. REUTERS/ Manami Yamada TOKYO, Japan - Japanese company ispace 9348.T said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the lunar surface during its touchdown attempt on Friday, marking another failure two years after an unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines LUNR.O and Firefly Aerospace in making successful commercial moon landings amid a global race that includes state-run lunar missions from China and India. Although the failure means another multi-year pause in Japan's commercial access to the moon, the country remains committed to the U.S.-led Artemis program and a wide range of Japanese companies are studying lunar exploration as a business frontier. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, had problems measuring its distance to the surface and could not slow its descent fast enough, the company said, adding it has not been able to communicate with Resilience after a likely hard landing. "Truly diverse scenarios were possible, including issues with the propulsion system, software or hardware, especially with sensors," ispace Chief Technology Officer Ryo Ujiie told a press conference. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent when flight data was lost less than two minutes before the scheduled touchdown time during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. Shares of ispace were untraded, overwhelmed by sell orders, and looked set to close at the daily limit-low, which would mark a 29% fall. As of the close of Thursday, ispace had a market capitalisation of more than 110 billion yen ($766 million). "We're not facing any immediate financial deterioration or distress because of the event," CFO Jumpei Nozaki said in the press conference, citing recurring investor support. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design was mostly unchanged in Resilience. $16 Million payload Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads worth a total of $16 million, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900 km (560 miles) from the moon's north pole. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3-metre-high lander and the rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with U.S. space agency NASA. Resilience in January shared a SpaceX rocket launch with Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, which took a faster trajectory to the moon and touched down successfully in March. Intuitive Machines, which last year marked the world's first commercial lunar touchdown, also landed its second Athena lander in March, although in a toppled position just as with its first mission. Japan last year became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander. The government last year signed an agreement with NASA to include Japanese astronauts in Artemis lunar missions and has supported private companies' research projects for future lunar development, assuming ispace's transportation capabilities. "Expectations for ispace have not faded," Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in an X post. Although ispace will likely remain Japan's most advanced lunar transportation company, some Japanese firms may start to consider transport options from foreign entities to test their lunar exploration visions, said Ritsumeikan University professor Kazuto Saiki, who was involved in the SLIM mission. For its third mission in 2027, ispace's U.S. unit is building a bigger lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services for the Artemis program. The company projects six more missions in the U.S. and Japan through 2029. "NASA increasingly needs private companies to improve cost efficiency for key missions with limited budgets," ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts. "To meet NASA's expectations, we'll support our U.S. subsidiary to keep up with development and play a role." ($1 = 143.5600 yen) — Reuters
GMA Network
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- GMA Network
Toyota revamps RAV4 SUV for global launch, debuts new software system
Toyota Motor's all-new RAV4 SUVs are displayed during its world premiere event in Tokyo, Japan May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Manami Yamada TOKYO - Toyota unveiled an overhauled RAV4 on Wednesday and said the compact sport utility vehicle would be the first Toyota model to be equipped with the Japanese automaker's Arene software development platform. Toyota plans to launch the new RAV4 in North America, Japan and Europe in the current business year to end-March 2026. The sixth-generation RAV4 will come in variants with hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. —Reuters
