The first private landing on the moon ended in failure: the module lost communication

The Japanese company ispace undertook the first private

astronautics attempt to deliver to the moonlanding module. At the last stage, communication with the module was lost. For several hours after the expected landing time, ispace engineers tried to contact the Hakuto-R Misson 1, but all attempts failed.

Preliminary data analysis indicates thatthat the lander lost control and made a hard landing on the surface of the moon, representatives of ispace say. The module's instruments recorded an unexpected acceleration during the last stage of landing, after the Hakuto-R Misson 1 moved into a vertical position for descent.

ispace engineers continue to analyze the datalander telemetry to determine the cause that led to the landing failure. ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada noted that despite the failure at the last stage, the company assesses the mission as successful.

A picture taken by the Hakuto-R Misson 1 lunar module shortly before landing. A lunar shadow is visible on the surface of the Earth, which caused a solar eclipse last week. Image: iSpace

Hakuto-R Misson 1 passed the previous ones correctlycheckpoints, including a flight through space, went into a given orbit around the moon and performed all the necessary maneuvers near the surface of a natural satellite of the Earth. The collected data will be used for the next missions, which are tentatively scheduled for 2023 and 2024.

Hakuto-R Misson 1 was supposed to be the firstprivate mission that ended with a successful landing on the surface of the moon. The lander was supposed to deliver two lunar rovers to the surface of the satellite: the Rashid rover developed in the UAE and the spherical research module from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) - Sora-Q. Apparently, both devices are also lost.

This summer, two more privatespace missions aimed at exploring the moon. Peregrine and Nova-C landers from US companies Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines respectively will try to complete the first successful landing. Previously, Hi-Tech spoke in detail about the immediate plans of space companies to explore the moon.

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On the cover: an artistic illustration of a lander on the lunar surface. Image: iSpace