Latest news with #ispace
Canada News.Net
05-07-2025
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Japan's Resilience lander fails to stick moon landing again
TOKYO, Japan: Japan's hopes for a foothold in commercial lunar exploration suffered a second blow this week after Tokyo-based startup ispace confirmed its Resilience lander likely crashed on the moon. The attempted touchdown was meant to mark a milestone for Japan's private space ambitions but ended with lost contact and no confirmation of a soft landing. The uncrewed lander, carrying scientific payloads worth US$16 million, appears to have suffered issues measuring its distance to the lunar surface and failed to slow down in time, ispace said. Contact was lost just under two minutes before the scheduled touchdown. This was ispace's second failed attempt after its inaugural mission crashed in 2023 due to inaccurate altitude recognition. While the hardware design remained mostly unchanged, software updates had been made. Still, Resilience couldn't avoid a hard landing. "Truly diverse scenarios were possible, including issues with the propulsion system, software or hardware, especially with sensors," said Chief Technology Officer Ryo Ujiie. More than 500 people — including ispace staff, sponsors, and government officials — had gathered at a Tokyo venue to witness the historic moment. Instead, a tense silence descended when the signal was lost. Shares of ispace plunged, hitting sell-order limits and looking set to close down 29%. Still, CFO Jumpei Nozaki said the company faced "no immediate financial deterioration," citing continued investor backing. Resilience had targeted Mare Frigoris, a plain near the moon's north pole, where it planned to conduct 14 days of exploration — including NASA-contracted work capturing regolith. The mission carried a rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary, alongside external instruments from Japanese companies and a Taiwanese university. While a commercial success would have aligned Japan with U.S. companies like Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace, both of whom achieved moon landings this year, ispace now faces a multi-year pause. Japan's national space agency, JAXA, did land its SLIM lander in 2023, making Japan the fifth country to manage a soft lunar landing. Despite the setback, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said, "Expectations for ispace have not faded." The company plans to continue its efforts, with a third mission slated for 2027 through its U.S. unit under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services. Ispace aims to complete six more missions across Japan and the U.S. by 2029.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA spots Japan's doomed 'Resilience' moon lander from orbit — and it's surrounded by far-flung debris
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Moon-orbiting spacecraft belonging to NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have both snapped photos of Japan's ruined lunar lander Resilience, following its catastrophic "hard landing" earlier this month. Some of the images — the first to visually confirm the spacecraft's fate — show pieces of debris scattered across the surrounding area. The Resilience lunar lander, made and operated by the Japanese company ispace, was scheduled to land in the Mare Frigoris, or "Sea of Cold," region of the moon's northern hemisphere on June 5. The lander was carrying a range of scientific experiments, as well as Europe's first ever lunar rover, named Tenacious, which was set to deploy an art piece known as "the Moonhouse" on the lunar surface. However, operators lost contact with Resilience around 100 seconds before its scheduled touchdown. It then experienced a "hard landing" that likely tore the spacecraft apart and led to the loss of all of its payloads. On June 11, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) snapped the first satellite photos of the ruined lander. By comparing the new images with photos taken before the crash (see above), it's clear that the impact left behind a dark smudge on the lunar surface. The mark is likely regolith (the layer of dust and rock that blankets the lunar bedrock) that was displaced by the impact, according to the LRO website. On June 16, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter snapped additional photos of the crash site, showing the area in much greater detail (see below). Subsequent analysis of the photos revealed pieces of debris scattered around the crash site. Astronomy enthusiast Shanmuga Subramanian identified at least 12 different pieces of debris and shared images of them on the social platform X. However, there was no indication as to how far apart these pieces were. Related: 'Everything has changed since Apollo': Why landing on the moon is still incredibly difficult Telemetry data from Resilience's final moments suggest the lander's laser rangefinder experienced delays while measuring the probe's distance to the lunar surface, Live Science's sister site previously reported. "As a result, the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing," ispace officials wrote at the time. In a news conference on Tuesday (June 24), ispace finally confirmed that the laser rangefinder was at fault. Resilience was the second of ispace's Hakuto-R landers to attempt to land on the moon. Its predecessor also likely crash-landed in April 2023, after the company lost contact with it in lunar orbit. However, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's SLIM lander (or "moon sniper") did successfully touch down on the moon in January 2024 and remained operational for several months, despite accidentally landing upside down. The last few years have seen a sharp rise in the number of spacecraft attempting to land on the moon. U.S. companies have already attempted two lunar landings this year: First, on March 2, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost successfully touched down on the moon; and second, on March 7, Intuitive Machine's IM-2 probe landed on its side and died 12 hours later. RELATED STORIES —China has launched a secret robot to the far side of the moon, new Chang'e 6 photos reveal —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. —Spacecraft films 'diamond ring' solar eclipse from the surface of the moon as 'blood moon' looms over Earth In February 2024, Intuitive Machine's Odysseus lander became the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years, but also ended up on its side. In August 2023, ISRO successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 — India's first-ever lunar lander — near the moon's south pole. This spacecraft later detected the first "moonquake" in decades before shutting down after 12 days. China's Chang'e 6 lander successfully touched down on the moon's far side in June 2024 and has since returned lunar samples to Earth.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
See it: New NASA images show crash site of failed Japanese lunar lander
TOKYO – A few weeks after ispace's second Moon landing attempt ended in a crash, the Japanese company said it had already figured out the problem: the Resilience lander couldn't tell where it was in position to the landing site. On June 6, the second Hakuto mission, nicknamed Resilience, was set to touch down on a 3.5 billion-year-old volcanic region of the Moon known as Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold. However, hours after the targeted touchdown, engineers at the mission control center (MCC) in Tokyo were still working to confirm the status of the spacecraft. The company said the spacecraft likely crash-landed on the surface. Firefly's Blue Ghost Begins Operations On The Moon After Upright Lunar Landing NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft recently took the images below of the Hakuto impact site. Before-and-after images from the LRO camera show the halo of the crash site where lunar regolith was moved, according to Arizona State University, which manages the instrument on the NASA spacecraft. The early-June landing attempt most likely ended in a splat on the Moon because the Laser Range Finder (LRF) hardware was not functioning as designed, according to the company's investigation. The LRF tells the lander where it is in position to the Moon and when it needs to decelerate for a soft landing. The company said it focused on two possibilities that could have caused an issue with the LRF: an installation and assembly error or deterioration of the LRF during the spaceflight to the Moon. First Celestial Images From 10-Year Project Photographing The Universe Released "The review detected no errors in the installation direction during AIT or attitude abnormalities during descent," ispace said in a news release. "The review therefore concluded that the possibility of 'deterioration in the performance of the LRF during flight or the performance itself was lower than expected' is high." This is the second Moon landing attempt for ispace, and they don't plan to stop now. CEO Takeshi Hakamada said teams are already working on a correction for future missions. "Since the moment of landing, we have remained committed to moving forward and identifying the root causes," Hakamada said. "For the past 18 days, every employee has worked tirelessly to be able to transparently share the results of the technical cause analysis. ispace will not let this be a setback. We will not stop here, but as determined pioneers of the cislunar economy, we will strive to regain the trust of all stakeholders and embark on the next mission: 'Never Quit the Lunar Quest.'"Original article source: See it: New NASA images show crash site of failed Japanese lunar lander
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Japan's ispace blames 'hard landing' on moon on Laser Range Finder
June 24 (UPI) -- Japanese company ispace said Tuesday that a "hard landing" during its attempted lunar landing in early June was due to an anomaly in the Laser Range Finder. In the analysis of the "SMBC X HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON" mission 2 ispace said the hard landing was due to an "anomaly in the laser rangefinder hardware," and the telemetry data also revealed no issues with the lander's software or propulsion system. The LRF unit did not provide altitude measurement until it was less than half a mile off the ground. However, it was initially designed to provide altitude data when the spacecraft was at at least about 2 miles above the surface. Laser light reflected back to the lander, lower power of the laser, reduced performance at higher velocities or effects from the space environment, such as a vacuum or radiation are several factors that could have played a role in the performance of the LRF. "On June 6, despite the united efforts and dedication of the ispace team, our second attempt at a lunar landing was unsuccessful, resulting in deep disappointment," said Founder and CEO of Ispace Takeshi Hakamada. "We deeply regret that we were unable to meet the expectations of our shareholders, payload customers, HAKUTO-R partners, government officials, and all others who supported us." "Ispace will not let this be a setback. We will not stop here, but as determined pioneers of the cislunar economy, we will strive to regain the trust of all stakeholders and embark on the next mission. Chief technology officer at ispace Ryo Ujiie said the company was taking major steps to combat the problem. One is to conduct a better testing plan to see how the laser rangefinder operates under different conditions. The second is to look into getting a different laser rangefinder. These changes will not be in effect for missions 3 and 4, which are scheduled to launch in 2027. "We take it very seriously," Takeshi Hakamada, chief executive of ispace, said of the failed landings of its first two missions. "However, the important part is that we keep trying. There can be some failures, but we keep improving our systems." "Our primary goal today was to convey that ispace, as a challenger, is already moving forward towards its next mission," he said, vowing to regain the trust of its customers and other stakeholders. "We're committed to demonstrating that Ispace will continue to grow undeterred by this setback." "We take it very seriously," Takeshi Hakamada, chief executive of ispace, said of the failed landings of its first two missions. "However, the important part is that we keep trying. There can be some failures, but we keep improving our systems." "Our primary goal today was to convey that ispace, as a challenger, is already moving forward towards its next mission," he said, vowing to regain trust of its customers and other stakeholders. "We're committed to demonstrating that ispace will continue to grow undeterred by this setback."
UPI
24-06-2025
- Business
- UPI
Japan's ispace blames 'hard landing' on moon on Laser Range Finder
Japanese company ispace said the recent "hard landing" of its attempted lunar landing was due to a failure of the Laser Range Finder. File Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo June 24 (UPI) -- Japanese company ispace said Tuesday that a "hard landing" during its attempted lunar landing in early June was due to an anomaly in the Laser Range Finder. In the analysis of the "SMBC X HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON" mission 2 ispace said the hard landing was due to an "anomaly in the laser rangefinder hardware," and the telemetry data also revealed no issues with the lander's software or propulsion system. The LRF unit did not provide altitude measurement until it was less than half a mile off the ground. However, it was initially designed to provide altitude data when the spacecraft was at at least about 2 miles above the surface. Laser light reflected back to the lander, lower power of the laser, reduced performance at higher velocities or effects from the space environment, such as a vacuum or radiation are several factors that could have played a role in the performance of the LRF. "On June 6, despite the united efforts and dedication of the ispace team, our second attempt at a lunar landing was unsuccessful, resulting in deep disappointment," said Founder and CEO of Ispace Takeshi Hakamada. "We deeply regret that we were unable to meet the expectations of our shareholders, payload customers, HAKUTO-R partners, government officials, and all others who supported us." "Ispace will not let this be a setback. We will not stop here, but as determined pioneers of the cislunar economy, we will strive to regain the trust of all stakeholders and embark on the next mission. Chief technology officer at ispace Ryo Ujiie said the company was taking major steps to combat the problem. One is to conduct a better testing plan to see how the laser rangefinder operates under different conditions. The second is to look into getting a different laser rangefinder. These changes will not be in effect for missions 3 and 4, which are scheduled to launch in 2027. "We take it very seriously," Takeshi Hakamada, chief executive of ispace, said of the failed landings of its first two missions. "However, the important part is that we keep trying. There can be some failures, but we keep improving our systems." "Our primary goal today was to convey that ispace, as a challenger, is already moving forward towards its next mission," he said, vowing to regain the trust of its customers and other stakeholders. "We're committed to demonstrating that Ispace will continue to grow undeterred by this setback." "We take it very seriously," Takeshi Hakamada, chief executive of ispace, said of the failed landings of its first two missions. "However, the important part is that we keep trying. There can be some failures, but we keep improving our systems." "Our primary goal today was to convey that ispace, as a challenger, is already moving forward towards its next mission," he said, vowing to regain trust of its customers and other stakeholders. "We're committed to demonstrating that ispace will continue to grow undeterred by this setback."
