“An altitude miscalculation” caused Japan’s attempt to land on the moon to fail

If the project had been successful, it would have been the first commercial soft landing on the moon’s surface. Japan’s attempt to land on the moon failed with the Hakuto-R last month due to a “miscalculation of altitude”.

Friday, the company said that the trip failed because the spacecraft ran out of fuel during the mission.

Channel News Asia said that Tokyo-based ispace lost contact with the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander after it tried what would have been the first private soft landing on the moon’s surface.

Japan’s space program has had a number of failures before the crash:

Japan’s space program took another hit with the crash. In March, the National Space Agency had to destroy its new medium-lift H3 rocket. In October, its solid-fuel Epsilon rocket didn’t work after it was launched.

ispace said that its second and third attempts would be better than the first.

Takeshi Hakamada, the CEO of ispace, told reporters at the Japan National Press Club, “Through these two missions, it is very important for us to learn as much as we can so that we can start making money in the future.”

In the past, state space agencies led the way in space exploration. Now, the United States and its allies are in a new space race with China. That is getting more and more interested in space travel.

NASA’s payloads:

Many of NASA’s payloads have been sent into orbit by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. Last week, NASA gave a contract for a lunar lander to a team run by Jeff Bezos’s company, Blue Origin.

In March, the National Space Agency had to destroy its new medium-lift H3 rocket. Furthermore, in October, its solid-fuel Epsilon rocket failed after launch.

ispace said that it will try to make its second and third tasks better.

Takeshi Hakamada, the CEO of ispace, told reporters at the Japan National Press Club, “It is very important for us to learn as much as we can through these two missions so that we can achieve stable commercialization in the future.”

In the past, state space agencies led the way in space exploration. Now, the United States and its allies are in a new space race with China. Consequently, this is getting more and more interested in space travel.

In 2024, ispace plans to send another M1 lander with the company’s own rover on a second trip.

Later, starting in 2025, the company will work with US space software maker Draper to send NASA payloads to the moon. By 2040, the goal is to build a permanent settlement on the moon with people living there.

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