Moon landing attempt: World’s first commercial lunar lander presumed lost
Tokyo-based ispace planned to land a robotic lunar lander on the Moon as part of the Hakuto-R Mission 1
A Japanese startup has attempted to land the first ever privately-funded spacecraft on the Moon on Tuesday, though its status remains unclear.
Tokyo-based ispace planned to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon as part of the Hakuto-R Mission 1, which launched on 11 December 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The lander had been in lunar orbit since 21 March, with the touch down expected to take place at 5.40pm BST.
A live stream of the Moon landing was broadcast on ispace’s YouTube channel at 4pm, offering people around the world to follow its progress.
Communications with the craft were lost just at the moment of the planned landing, with ispace saying that it may well have crashed into the Moon’s surface rather than land safely.
“We have to assume that we did not complete the landing,” an ispace spokesperson says. “Our engineers will continue to investigate the situation.”
Moon landing live: Lander reappears from far side of moon
We’re only minutes away from the planned landing now, as the craft emerges from the far side of the Moon. It is currently following an automated landing procedure, so it’s just a case now that all goes to plan.
“It seems that, if everything is going as expected, we should have entered the burn phase,” ispace says.
Moon landing live: Still waiting for confirmation
We’re past the planned landing time, but we’re still waiting for confirmation that the mission succeeded...
Moon landing live: ‘Please be patient'
Still no word on whether ispace has succeeded in landing a spacecraft on the Moon. A spokesperson says “please be patient” while we await confirmation.
Moon landing live: 'We have to assume that we did not complete the landing’
There is still no confirmation of the landing, with ispace losing communication with the spacecraft right as the planned landing occurred.
“We have to assume that we did not complete the landing,” an ispace spokesperson says. “Our engineers will continue to investigate the situation.”
Moon landing live: Stream comes to an end as investigation continues
The live stream is now over, with ispace signing off with the words: “Don’t forget, never quit the lunar quest.”
Moon landing live: ispace update
Here’s the latest from ispace, still no confirmation either way.
ispace believes spacecraft likely crashed during landing
ispace believes that its lunar lander ultimately crashed around the time it was supposed to land on the surface of the moon on Tuesday.
“It has been determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing,” ispace said in a statement.
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