Japanese aerospace company ispace suffered its second lunar failure after its lander “Resilience” lost contact during descent and likely crash-landed on the moon. The mission was intended to deliver a mini rover and symbolic cargo—including a toy-size red house by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg—to the Mare Frigoris region. While descent initially appeared successful, communications were lost two minutes before touchdown. CEO Takeshi Hakamada expressed disappointment but emphasized the mission’s value as a learning experience. Preliminary analysis suggests a faulty altitude laser caused the crash. This marks another setback in the growing field of commercial lunar exploration, which has seen a mix of breakthroughs and failures. Despite challenges, ispace plans future missions, with a NASA-backed lander scheduled for 2027.
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