Second iSpace Lunar Lander: What Went Wrong and What It Means for Future Missions

WASHINGTON — The Resilience lander from ispace, a Japanese company, likely crashed during its attempted moon landing on June 5. It was supposed to land at Mare Frigoris, a spot on the moon’s near side, at 3:17 p.m. Eastern Time. Once on the surface, the lander was set to work for about two weeks, powered by solar energy.

Initial landing processes seemed to go well. However, telemetry data—a stream of information that shows how the craft is performing—indicated that Resilience hit the moon roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds too early, traveling at a speed of 187 kilometers per hour. This speed was far too fast for a safe landing. After this point, the data stopped coming in, and the company ended its livestream about 25 minutes later without further updates.

Five hours later, ispace acknowledged the likely loss of the lander. They explained that the laser rangefinder, which measures distance to the lunar surface, faced delays. Without accurate readings, the lander couldn’t slow down enough for a safe descent. “It appears that the lander performed a hard landing,” the company stated, noting they lost contact shortly after the scheduled landing time.

Takeshi Hakamada, the company’s founder and CEO, emphasized that their main focus is to analyze current data to determine what went wrong. At a press conference in Tokyo, Hakamada and other executives provided limited technical insights, stating more analysis is needed. They also highlighted that the issues were distinct from the first mission, which crashed due to a software error that misled it into thinking it had landed when it was still five kilometers above the surface.

Ryo Ujiie, ispace’s chief technology officer, mentioned that the rangefinder on Resilience was a newer design, as the previous model had been discontinued by the manufacturer.

Resilience began its journey aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on January 15. It shared its launch with another lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace, which successfully landed on March 2. Resilience took a low-energy path to save fuel, completing a lunar flyby on February 14 that sent it 1.1 million kilometers from the moon before circling back to enter lunar orbit on May 6.

The lander had a dry weight of 340 kilograms and carried several experiments, including a water electrolyzer and a food production experiment from Japanese firms. It also held a tiny rover called Tenacious, developed by ispace’s European branch. This rover was meant to collect moon dust, which is part of a contract with NASA to establish resource rights in space. Additionally, Tenacious had an art project called The Moonhouse, created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, intended to provoke thoughts about humanity and life.

Looking ahead, ispace has more lunar missions planned. They are developing a new lander, Apex 1.0, for a NASA mission set for 2027. Their Japanese team is also working on another lander design for a separate mission in the same year, backed by an $80 million grant from the Japanese government.

Despite the setback with Resilience, ispace remains optimistic. Jumpei Nozaki, ispace’s CFO, noted that while few companies can build lunar landers, demand is high. Success in upcoming missions is seen as crucial for proving their capabilities to potential clients. “If we succeed, it can show what we can do,” he said.

Hakamada acknowledged the technical challenges of moon landings, yet pointed out successes by other firms and countries, including NASA. “It’s hard, but it’s not impossible,” he stated, underscoring the urgency to understand the recent failure and use that knowledge to secure victories in future missions.

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