Japan's Resilience lander crashes on the Moon: Here's what went wrong

Japan's private company ispace had a second fatal loss on the Moon in two years as its second lunar lander dubbed Resilience crashed.The spacecraft was tagetting to land on the Moon's Sea of Cold in the Northern Hemisphere when Mission Control in Tokyo lost communications and telemetry with the spacecraft.ispace later confirmed that the mission was lost. "Given that there is currently no prospect of a successful lunar landing, our top priority is to swiftly analyse the telemetry data we have obtained thus far and work diligently to identify the cause,' said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder and CEO of ispace.advertisement
WHAT WENT WRONG ON THE MOON? Hours after the spacecraft crashed on the Moon, ispace revealed the initial findings from data it received moments before the spacecraft had a hard landing on the Moon.ispace stated that the lander successfully began its descent phase from an altitude of 100 kilometres and all was well until 20 kilometres marks above the Moon. The spacecraft successfully fired its engine at 20 kilometres altitude to begin deceleration."While the lander's attitude was confirmed to be nearly vertical, telemetry was lost thereafter, and no data indicating a successful landing was received, even after the scheduled landing time had passed," ispace said.The engineers later confirmed that The laser rangefinder used to measure the distance to the lunar surface experienced delays in obtaining valid measurement values. As a result, the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing and suffered a hard landing.
Resilience spacecraft flying above the Moon. (Photo: ispace)
advertisementResilience, launched in January 2025 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, spent nearly five months travelling to the Moon using a fuel-efficient low-energy transfer trajectory—a route that, while slower, allowed for careful system checks and adjustments along the way.The spacecraft entered lunar orbit in May and targeted a landing at Mare Frigoris, the 'Sea of Cold,' a vast basaltic plain in the Moon's Northern Hemisphere chosen for its smooth terrain and extended sunlight.The landing was scheduled for 12:47 am IST, with global audiences tuning in to ispace's live broadcast in hopes of witnessing a historic achievement.The fatal end brings back the sore memories of 2023, when the company's first spacecraft Hakuto-R, crashed with the Rashid rover. The spacecraft experienced an unexpected acceleration on its way down to the surface.

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