[Text/InsightChina Chen Sijia] Local time on the morning of June 6, Japan's private aerospace company ispace's lunar lander "Rashin" attempted to land on the surface of the moon, but lost contact with the lander before the scheduled landing time. According to NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Takanori Hatakeyama, CEO of ispace, confirmed at 6 a.m. on the 6th that this lunar mission had failed, and "Rashin" was likely to have crashed into the lunar surface.

Hatakeyama stated at the press conference that at 3:13 a.m. Japan Standard Time (2:13 a.m. Beijing Time) on the 6th, the mission control center sent a landing command to "Rashin". After the lander detached from its orbit about 100 kilometers above the moon and descended to approximately 20 kilometers, the main engine ignited as planned and began deceleration. However, when the lander adjusted its posture to nearly vertical with the lunar surface, telemetry data disappeared.

He said that after the scheduled landing time of 4:17 a.m. (3:17 a.m. Beijing Time), the mission control center still did not receive any landing data. At 8 a.m. local time (7 a.m. Beijing Time), the task team judged that communication with the lander could not be restored, and the lunar landing mission failed, thus deciding to terminate the mission.

Hatakeyama revealed that ispace has confirmed that the effective measurement data obtained by the laser rangefinder used to measure the distance between the lander and the lunar surface showed a delay. The lander failed to sufficiently decelerate to the speed required for landing. "Based on these circumstances, we speculate that the lander probably hard-landed on the lunar surface."

Hatakeyama said that this was the second failure in ispace's lunar landing missions. "We attach great importance to this mission. We hope to determine the specific reasons based on the current situation and see if we can overcome the failure."

On the morning of June 6, Takanori Hatakeyama, CEO of ispace, held a press conference Video screenshot

"Rashin" was launched aboard SpaceX's "Falcon 9" rocket on January 15, 2025, and entered the lunar orbit on May 7. This mission was named "Hakuto-R Lunar Exploration", and the lander carried several payloads including a micro rover and a deep-space radiation detector, originally planning to land in the Cold Sea area of the moon.

This is already the second attempt by ispace to achieve a lunar landing. In April 2023, ispace's "Hakuto-R" Mission 1 lander lost contact with the ground during the landing process and crashed onto the lunar surface, failing to complete the landing mission.

"Rashin" lunar lander ispace website

NHK pointed out that ispace also plans to launch two new landers to the moon in 2027, and it is unclear whether the failure of this mission will affect related plans. In response, Hatakeyama responded, "I cannot say clearly now whether there will be direct impact. First, we want to find out the cause of this incident and consider what measures need to be taken."

Yoshiaki Miyamoto, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said that private enterprises' participation in space development can help increase the speed and scale of relevant projects and enhance their ability to take risks. "Private enterprises in other countries can get back up and win even after failures in fierce competition. I hope they (ispace) can show the world that they can overcome difficulties and move forward."

In recent years, Japan has made multiple attempts to launch lunar landers. In addition to the two missions of ispace, Japan launched the "Ouyou" lunar probe in November 2022, but the probe experienced an abnormal attitude after separating from the rocket, and its solar panels could not work properly, failing to establish communication with the ground.

In January 2024, Japan's "Small Lunar Lander Demonstration" (SLIM) landed on the lunar surface, but its propulsion system malfunctioned during the landing process, causing it to land in an inverted position. SLIM repeatedly activated and hibernated over the next few months, surviving three lunar nights, and then lost contact with the ground. In August of the same year, JAXA announced the formal termination of the SLIM mission.

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7512759969805025803/

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