Moon's Tragic Encounter: Japanese Lunar Probe Meets Catastrophic End during Second Lunar Attempt
In a setback for private space exploration, the Japanese lunar lander Resilience, operated by ispace, failed to make a successful landing on the Moon during its first commercial lunar landing attempt on June 5, 2022. The lander, weighing 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms), carried five payloads, including a tiny rover called Tenacious.
The Resilience lander was launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in January, and it entered lunar orbit on May 6, according to NASA. However, the descent went smoothly until it reached an altitude of roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the lunar surface, when telemetry was lost. After trying and failing to regain contact, ispace concluded that Resilience had most likely crash landed on the lunar surface, ending the mission.
Investigations revealed that the malfunction in the laser device that led to the crash landing was caused by a software error involving the laser range finder. This device, used to measure the distance to the lunar surface, transmitted data with a delay, causing incorrect determination of the distance between the lander and the Moon’s surface. As a result, the lander miscalculated its altitude during descent and was unable to decelerate properly, leading to a crash at a speed of 42 meters per second when it was about 192 meters above the surface[1][2][3].
ispace confirmed that the root cause was a malfunction in the laser range finder, which either suffered from degraded performance during flight or possibly an installation error prior to launch. The delayed range data caused the lander's automated systems to misjudge its position and descent speed, culminating in a hard landing and loss of communication shortly before touchdown[1][2]. This incident echoed the failure in their earlier 2023 mission, which was also due to sensor-related software errors[1][2].
Despite the setback, ispace remains undeterred. The company plans to launch two more Moon missions in 2027, using the larger, upgraded Apex 1.0 lander. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace, stated that the top priority is to analyze telemetry data and identify the cause of the mishap. Jumpei Nozaki, ispace director and CFO, expressed resilience, stating, "it's hard, but it has some meaning and significance of trying."
So far, only Firefly Aerospace has achieved a fully successful private lunar landing. The private space industry continues to push boundaries, with companies like ispace aiming to provide commercial payload transportation services to the Moon. Whether the Apex 1.0 lander proves to be more capable than Resilience remains to be seen.
[1] Space.com, "Ispace Resilience Moon Lander Loses Contact Before Landing," June 5, 2022. [2] TechCrunch, "Ispace's Resilience Lunar Lander Crashes on the Moon," June 5, 2022. [3] Ars Technica, "Ispace's Resilience Lunar Lander Crashes on the Moon," June 5, 2022.
- The Resilience lunar lander, operated by ispace, carried its crash on the lunar surface despite the advancements in space-and-astronomy technology and private space exploration, as confirmed by their analysis.
- ispace, a company aiming to provide commercial payload transportation services to the Moon, plans to launch two more Moon missions in 2027 with a larger, upgraded Apex 1.0 lander, seeking to surpass the performance of the failed Resilience lander.
- The failure of the Resilience mission in 2022 was attributed to a malfunction in the laser range finder, which suffered from either degraded performance during flight or an installation error prior to launch, resulting in delayed range data and incorrect altitude calculations during descent.
- Despite this setback, Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace, and Jumpei Nozaki, CFO and director of ispace, expressed determination to analyze telemetry data and learn from the mishap, emphasizing the significance of continuous attempts in the realm of space technology and the future of private lunar exploration.
