Latest news with #IntuitiveMachines
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA moon orbiter spies grave of crashed Japanese lunar lander (image)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has imaged the crash site of Resilience, a moon lander built and operated by the Tokyo-based company ispace. Resilience tried to touch down on June 5 in the center of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold), a volcanic region interspersed with large-scale faults known as wrinkle ridges. Mare Frigoris formed over 3.5 billion years ago as massive basalt eruptions flooded low-lying terrain, according to Mark Robinson, a lunar scientist for the company Intuitive Machines who is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Later, the wrinkle ridges formed as the crust buckled under the weight of the heavy basalt deposits. Shortly after Resilience's landing sequence, the ispace Mission Control Center was unable to establish communications with the spacecraft. The team determined that Resilience had likely been lost, a conclusion that was firmed up a few hours later. Also lost on landing was the Tenacious microrover, a small wheeled vehicle developed in Luxembourg by ispace's European subsidiary. Tenacious carried a piece of artwork on its front bumper — Mikael Genberg's "Moonhouse," a small replica of the red-and-white homes famous in Sweden. Related stories: — Private Japanese spacecraft crashes into moon in 'hard landing,' ispace says — Japan's Resilience moon lander aces lunar flyby ahead of historic touchdown try (photo) — Japan's Resilience moon lander arrives in lunar orbit ahead of June 5 touchdown Resilience left some telltale marks when it slammed into the moon on June 5, and LRO noticed them. "The dark smudge formed as the vehicle excavated and redistributed shallow regolith (soil); the faint bright halo resulted from low-angle regolith particles scouring the delicate surface," Robinson, the principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, told Inside Outer Space. The crash spot is roughly 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the landing site that ispace mapped out, to one decimal place, on its webpage. One decimal place in lunar latitude and longitude equals 19 miles (30 km), Robinson said. Resilience was ispace's second moon lander. The company's first such probe also crashed during its touchdown try, in April 2023. Scott Manley has more details on the Resilience crash; check out his video here.
ABC News
5 days ago
- Science
- ABC News
Australian scientists aiming to grow plants on the moon prepare for launch of Lunaria One
An Australian team attempting to grow plants on the moon is finalising a prototype designed to carry an assortment of plants and seeds to the lunar surface. If the plants and seeds survive the journey, the team is hoping they will be able to thrive on the moon's surface. The project, which is being headed by Australian company Lunaria One, will hitch a ride on the exterior of a lander built by USA-based Intuitive Machines, and is currently scheduled to launch in March or April 2026. The goal of the mission is to discover how plants and seeds respond to the low-levels of gravity on the moon. Mission lead Lauren Fell said the project was intended to be the first step down a path that would eventually allow humans to have a sustainable presence on the moon. To achieve this goal, Lunaria One, along with partners from industry and universities, has developed a bio-module capable of keeping the plants warm and hydrated, while keeping the harsh vacuum environment of space out. Under current time frames, Lunaria One's bio-module and plants have to be ready for installation on the lunar lander that will carry them to the surface of the moon by the end of the year. A prototype built at RMIT University in Melbourne is being tested to make sure it can handle the high vibration and temperatures it will be subjected to during launch, as well as the potential radiation and temperature extremes it can experience in space. At the Centre for Accelerator Science nuclear lab in Lucas Heights near Sydney, another team is investigating which plant species to send into space. In a small plastic box, seeds and plants were bombarded with radiation equivalent to four days, eight days and five years on the lunar surface. "We are testing to see where those boundaries are," Ms Fell said. "Life is very resilient, and we have chosen species on purpose that have a lot of resilience – lichens for example have been shown to survive outside the International Space Station." The mission, named the Australian Lunar Experiment Promoting Horticulture, or ALEPH, is backed by a $3.6 million grant from the Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Demonstrator Mission Grants, with contributions from industry. It is hoped the mission will help incubate a domestic space industry, with the team developing as much of the equipment onshore as possible. One headache for scientists trying to get the plants to survive the trip to the moon is the weight limit. The entire project can only weigh 500 grams. Within that limit they must accommodate the pressurised bio-module, internal heating system, electronics, sensors, lighting, water, the plants themselves, and a space-rated camera that will watch for growth. Professor Caitlin Byrt, a biologist consultant on the team, was blunt about the plants' survival chances. There would be many things that could kill them on the journey, she said, including massive shaking at take-off, solar radiation, temperatures hundreds of degrees above boiling and below freezing, risk of module breach and water venting into space. "I think it's going to be a huge challenge to have something that's still kicking with life by the time it gets to the moon." A lunar day lasts about two weeks, and after touching down in the lunar dawn, the plants have about 72 hours to live before the environment simply becomes too hot. "After that it's show over," Professor Byrt said. "A little sprout growing — that's what I dream of, that's what I'd love to see." The mission was not an idle curiosity, Professor Byrt said, and may have applications back on Earth. Just as tech developed for the International Space Station led to better water recycling here, she said ALEPH could teach people how to grow food in inhospitable locations or after disasters. "Imagine if you could deliver systems that are super well optimised despite challenging conditions, that communities can use to be growing plants and supplying their own food," she said. Studies of microbes on the International Space Station showed new "alien" varieties had developed, and Dr Byrt said it was "probably inevitable" efforts to grow plants on the moon would create unique organisms, as nature found a way to balance a new closed ecosystem. ALEPH is hoped to be the first in a series of planned missions, all working towards human habitation on the moon, with subsequent missions to go for longer durations and carry more biomaterial. Intuitive Machines's chief technology officer Dr Tim Crain said what happened to plants at lunar gravity was almost completely unknown. "We've done a lot of experiments on the International Space Station for micro gravity, to see how living things respond to zero [gravity]. But this is an opportunity to see one-sixth gravity — does it inhibit growth, does it promote growth?" Dr Crain said. "It's a human story of exploration and we are proud that Australia is a part of that." ALEPH will be carried on Intuitive Machines's third lunar lander, and Dr Crain said the team needed three months to integrate the bio-module and install the lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. As well as growing a domestic space industry, there were plans to use ALEPH to teach kids science at home. Lunaria One has partnered with science education company Stile Education to develop kits that could be sent to schools, allowing students to see whether different plants would grow in similar conditions to the moon. "It's curriculum-aligned so teachers will be able to know it works into the curriculum," Ms Fell said. "We want to make an Australia-wide connection to the project."
The Star
07-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Ispace aborts Moon mission
Space setback: Hakamada (centre) waiting with members of his team for news of the expected landing on the Moon by the company's Resilience craft, in Tokyo. — AFP The country's hopes of achieving its first soft touchdown on the Moon by a private company were dashed when the mission was aborted after an assumed crash-landing, the startup said. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to make history as only the third private firm – and the first outside the United States – to achieve a controlled arrival on the lunar surface. But 'based on the currently available data ... it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing', the startup said yesterday. 'It is unlikely that communication with the lander will be restored' so 'it has been decided to conclude the mission', ispace said in a statement. The failure comes two years after a prior mission ended in a crash. The company's unmanned Resilience spacecraft began its daunting final descent and 'successfully fired its main engine as planned to begin deceleration', ispace said. Mission control confirmed that the lander's positioning was 'nearly vertical' – but contact was then lost, with the mood on a livestream from mission control turning sombre. Technical problems meant 'the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing', ispace said. To date, only five nations have achieved soft lunar landings: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and most recently Japan. Now, private companies are joining the race, promising cheaper and more frequent access to space. On board the Resilience lander were several high-profile payloads. They included Tenacious, a Luxembourg-built micro rover; a water electrolyser to split molecules into hydrogen and oxygen; a food production experiment; and a deep-space radiation probe. The rover also carried 'Moonhouse' – a small model home designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. 'I take the fact that the second attempt failed to land seriously,' chief executive officer Takeshi Hakamada told reporters. 'But the most important thing is to use this result' for future missions, he said, describing a 'strong will to move on, although we have to carefully analyse what happened'. Last year, Houston-based Intuitive Machines became the first private enterprise to reach the Moon. Though its uncrewed lander touched down at an awkward angle, it still managed to complete tests and transmit photos. Then in March this year, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost – launched on the same SpaceX rocket as ispace's Resilience – aced its lunar landing attempt. The mood ahead of yesterday's attempt had been celebratory, with a watch party also held by ispace's US branch in Washington. After contact was lost, announcers on an ispace livestream signed off with the message: 'Never quit the lunar quest.' The mission had also aimed to collect two lunar soil samples and sell them to Nasa for US$5,000 (RM21,150). Though the samples would remain on the Moon, the symbolic transaction is meant to strengthen the US stance that commercial activity – though not sovereign claims – should be allowed on celestial bodies. — AFP
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What next for Japan's lunar ambitions after ispace fails to touchdown
STORY: A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and Japanese government officials abruptly grew silent on Friday (June 6). Flight data from the company's moon lander was lost less than two minutes before the scheduled touchdown. Japanese firm ispace said the uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the lunar surface. Marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful first mission. Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada. "As of 8 a.m. this morning (2300 GMT June 5), we anticipate that communications with the lander will not be restored and that it will not therefore be possible to complete Mission 2 milestone Success 9 to confirm a landing on the surface of the moon. It has been decided that the mission will conclude." Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace in making successful commercial moon landings. And it comes amid a global race including state-run lunar missions from China and India. The failure means another multi-year pause in Japan's commercial access to the moon. Although the country remains committed to the U.S.-led Artemis program. And a wide range of Japanese companies are studying lunar exploration as a business frontier. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander had problems measuring its distance to the surface. It could not slow its descent fast enough, the company said. Adding it has not been able to communicate with Resilience after a likely hard landing. Shares of ispace were untraded, overwhelmed by sell orders. And looked set to close at the daily limit-low, which would mark a 29% fall. For its third mission in 2027, ispace's U.S. unit is building a bigger lander. It's part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services for the Artemis program. The company projects six more missions in the U.S. and Japan through 2029. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Advertiser
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Japanese company's moon lander 'likely to have crashed'
Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Japanese company ispace says its uncrewed moon lander has likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement on Friday. The company's livestream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3m-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with US space agency NASA. Japan in 2024 became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position.
