The Japanese private cosmic company ISPACE faces uncertainty after its resistance Lunar Lander attempted a historical touch of the month soon on Friday, until shortly after the planned landing time it fell silent. Blackout launched tense waiting for confirmation, as flight drivers exceed the data from the final descent.
The mission labeled the second attempt by ISPACE LUNAR, follow -up of his monthly 2023, which ended in an accident.
The landing attempt ends in a radio silence
The durability, which started from Florida in January, entered Lunar Orbit last month. His latest descent focused on the flat plane in the FRIGORIS, or the “Sea of the cold”, a relatively benign region on the moon. The selected place of landing with smooth terrain and sparse coverage of the boulder was considered ideal for safe landing.
But despite a smooth descent, telemetric data indicated a sudden decline in altitude just before the planned landing at 4:17 JST (1917 GMT). A few minutes later, ISPACE announced that Lander had not received a signal yet and said it could take more time to confirm his fate.
A new phase of commercial monthly landing
Resistance went to a new wave of commercial efforts for months. She launched SpaceX on board and shared a trip with Blue Ghost Firefly Aerospace, who defeated her to the surface in March – became the first private entity to successfully landed for the Moon.
Other competitors include intuitive machines whose own lunar lander plunged into the crater and failed shortly after landing near the South Pole of the Moon. On the other hand, resistance focused on a safer area at the top of the moon on a mission of up to two weeks.
Small Rover and toy the size of a red house
The 2.3 -meter -high durability carried a tenacious, a light £ 11 (5 kg) to a high -resolution camera with a high -resolution camera to take Lunar Regolith for NASA research. After deployment-what can happen at the weekend-is expected to explore the surface in slow circles and reach up to 1 km from Lander on a two-week lunar day.
Larger picture: Global Moon push
Only five countries – Russia, USA, China, India and Japan – have achieved successful robotic lunar landings. Among them, only the US landed astronauts on the moon with Apollo NAS missions between 1969 and 1972.
Private companies are now entering an increased frequency field. By the end of this year, Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology (whose first Lander failed in 2024) focused on new monthly education.
NASA itself plans to send four astronauts around the month in 2026 as part of the Artemis program, with the lunar landing crew was then expected to use SpaceX a star ship for descent. China also focuses on the lunar crew mission.
Waiting for a signal
Meanwhile, ISPACE engineers are still trying to restore contact with resistance. If successful, it would mean an important milestone for the Japanese private space sector and the growing commercial lunar industry.
(Tagstotranslate) ISPACE (T) ISPACE LUNAR LANDER
