Japanese Moon Mission Ends in Crash: Resilience Fails to Land
The Resilience lunar module, owned by Japan’s ispace, has been declared lost following a crash landing on the Moon on June 5th. After a five-month journey, the spacecraft encountered critical issues during its descent, mirroring a previous ispace failure. The loss has significant implications, both for the company and the future of commercial lunar exploration.
A Recurring Challenge for ispace
This incident marks the second failed attempt by ispace to land a module on the Moon, following a similar mishap two years ago. In both cases, lidar errors prevented the onboard computer from accurately calculating the necessary engine adjustments, leading to harsh landings.
Mission Components Lost
The crash resulted in the loss of several valuable cargo items, including a water electrolysis device, a radiation sensor, and a UNESCO memory bank. Notably, a small 5-kilogram rover, intended to collect lunar soil samples for NASA, was also destroyed. This dissolution disrupted what was to be the first commercial space mining transaction, with lunar material sold to NASA for a symbolic $1.
Mission Launch and Failure Details
Launched on January 15th aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, the Resilience module initially shared the journey with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost module. Unlike Resilience, Blue Ghost successfully landed in late February. Despite achieving a circular 100 km orbit by late May, Resilience lost telemetry communication just two minutes before its planned landing. Subsequent attempts to re-establish contact were futile, confirming the crash through data analysis.
Future Implications
This setback underscores the difficulties of lunar exploration, especially for private entities like ispace. The company’s persistence despite challenges may continue to influence future commercial ventures aimed at exploiting extraterrestrial resources.
