Space exploration continues to be something many countries are working towards. And only three countries have been successful in landing vessels on the moon. Japan was hoping to be the fourth on Wednesday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The company iSpace lost contact with their lunar lander only a few feet above the planet’s surface. The consensus is that entry onto the planet’s surface resulted in a probable crash landing.
It’s heartbreaking for four-and-a-half months of work to result in complete silence from the moon’s surface. iSpace lost communication with the lander roughly 33 feet above the planet. For six hours, they waited to hear from the lander, but feared the worst. CEO and founder of the company, Takeshi Hakamada, tried to hold out hope for contact from the lander, but inevitably had to report the flight as a failure. And that it was more than likely the lander had crashed into the moon.
The independent company is disappointed, but not deterred. Hakamada says “We will keep going, never quit lunar quest.” Other members of lunar exploration teams sympathize with the setback. “If space is hard, landing is harder,” tweets Laurie Leshen, director of NASA’s JPL. “I know from personal experience how awful this feels.” The lander, named Hakuto (Japanese for white rabbit), carried within it a rover from the United Arab Emirates and a Japanese robot designed to roll about on the planet’s surface for 10 days. Another expedition is already planned. iSpace hopes to be a one-way taxi service for other companies to use for lunar exploration.
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