Japan's ispace likely failed its moon landing attempt | Mashable.
Private company's daring moon landing likely just failed
People within the ispace mission control center anxiously await some confirmation that the Hakuto-R mission landed successfully on April 25, 2023. Credit: ispace / YouTube screenshot |
A Japanese company likely crashed a spacecraft into the moon as it attempted a soft landing Tuesday, causing an abrupt end to its five-month journey from launch pad to the lunar surface.
The company, ispace, invited the world to watch alongside its Tokyo-based mission control through a livestream of the event on April 25. The nail-biting landing sequence lasted about an hour as the robotic spacecraft performed a braking engine burn and followed automated commands to adjust the Hakuto-R lander's orientation and speed to touch down.
As the spacecraft descended, mission control had communication with it. But after the maneuvers were completed, the team lost contact with the lander. With a room full of visibly disappointed engineers, ispace officials said they had to assume the landing was unsuccessful. But they'll continue to investigate the status of the lander, said Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace.
"At this moment, what I can tell is we are very proud of the fact that we have already achieved many things during this Mission 1," he said. "We acquired actual flight data during the landing phase. That is a great achievement for the future missions."
Though 60 years have passed since the first uncrewed moon landings, it remains a daunting task, with less than half of missions succeeding. Unlike on Earth, the moon's atmosphere is very thin, providing virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Moreover, there is no GPS system on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot. Engineers have to compensate for these shortcomings from 239,000 miles away.
"We cannot emulate all the environment of the moon on the Earth before the mission," Hakamada told Mashable in an interview hours after the event, still without an update on the lander's status. "So we have to rely on all the simulations and then a lot of assumptions."
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This is not the first time the private sector has attempted to get to the moon. For example, in 2019 an Israeli nonprofit and company collaborated on the $100 million Beresheet mission, which crashed on the lunar surface after an orientation component failed. The mishap potentially scattered some intriguing artifacts on the lunar surface in the process.
For one of ispace's payload customers, a failed landing would mean the indefinite postponement of another dream: the first Arab moon mission. The ispace lander was supposed to deliver the United Arab Emirates' Rashid rover to the moon, which would explore the Atlas Crater. Along with the Emirati rover, a Japanese space program robot was on board.
Hakuto-R is the first of many other commercial missions that are expected to attempt this feat soon, many of which are an outgrowth of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program. The program was established in 2018 to recruit the private sector to help deliver cargo to the moon. Ispace couldn't directly participate in the NASA program because it isn't an American company, but it is collaborating on one of the contracts led by Draper Technologies in Massachusetts, expected to land on the moon in 2025.
These upcoming missions will support the U.S. space agency's lunar ambitions, shipping supplies and experiments to the surface ahead of astronauts' arrival in 2025 or later. They're also expected to kickstart a future cislunar economy, referring to the business potential of ventures on the moon and in the space between Earth and the moon.
"The environment has changed since I established this company 13 years ago," Hakamada said. "This is a great market opportunity for a company like us."
The executive said he wasn't deterred by the uncertain outcome of the company's first attempted landing. The data will help the business prepare for its next two upcoming missions, he said.
And he had no regrets about allowing the general public to watch the attempt in real time.
"We tried to be transparent to the world. That will, we believe, (help us) gain more trust in our business and technology," Hakamada said. "Many people will be given the impression that this is real, and this will pave the way for the greater development of the cislunar ecosystem."
Which will be the first to make the journey intact? The commercial race is on, with many more opportunities approaching.
"History can be made only by those who (face) challenges, and challenges will not be possible without taking a risk," said Yuichi Tsuda, a professor of astronautical science at Tokyo University, during the live broadcast. "The risk can be taken only by those who dream. So ispace teams, you are all excellent dreamers."
This story has been updated from a previous version to include an interview with ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada.
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If any country wants to go to the moon they must sacrifies things like , integrity and honesty that is why AMERICA can easily go there even with a kind of technology far inferior than a basic cellphone of today. There are even plans to do it again, unfortunately people are smarter now i dont know what kind of movie magic they will do this time 🤔🤔
ReplyDeleteHow about buying a few vowels 1st
Deleteyou're ignorance and willingness to display it is sad
DeleteThe Moon is Flat..... HAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteHow about moon landings more than 50 years ago? Aren't the technologies much better now?
ReplyDeleteTechnology is more sophisticated but also more sensitive. We are starting from scratch since the old technology no longer exists.
Deleteall it took was math
DeleteAnd deny some super intelligent people and the incredibly brave astronauts their achievements? Not on your life. And do you also believe the world is flat?
ReplyDeleteBetter hire ETs. They know better lol ✌🏽
ReplyDeleteSeemed easy enough for America 50+yes ago.........😉
ReplyDeletedozens of rockets exploded/were deliberately aborted to prevent catastrophes, nearly 400,000 people were involved in designing, building, testing, and flying the things and/or training the astronauts and you say it was “easy”?
DeleteThe Moon landings were hardly low-hanging fruit.
he’s being sarcastic Dude. No one has ever been to the moon. It was an elaborate hoax to trick the Russians into thinking that our technology was more advanced than it was. You crack me up. Lol.
Deleteare you really so naive you believe the Russians, who had just as sophisticated radar tracking systems, wouldn’t have ratted out the Americans if they faked it?
DeleteYou were already cracked.
We most certainly went to the moon. We spent the better part of a decade to make it happen. Engineers and scientists nationwide were devoted to making it happen.
DeleteNot easy but the greatest challenge in a generation. Took a decade but we made it happen.
Delete🙏
DeleteSpace X will come 2024 lunar mission in collaboration with NASA
ReplyDeletewhat's saw hilarious here
DeleteBecause it’s impossible 🤣no such thing as landing on the moon
ReplyDeleteBecause we were told not to go back...
ReplyDeleteYeah...that's why. Moron.
DeleteI think the funding was cut off.
DeleteSuccess always comes with failure, well get next time like we did before
ReplyDeleteYou can't get past the Van Allen Radiation belt this is why nobody's been to the moon...
ReplyDelete🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
ReplyDeletehttps://youtube.com/watch?v=CbFr8Hv8MdQ&feature=share
ReplyDeleteHollywood can help you land on the moon.
ReplyDeletejust words like trajectory and Houston a lot you'll get there
DeletePlease. They got there in 1969. If you don't think we can get there again easily, I've got some great swampland to sell.
ReplyDeleteIs ok. It takes failure to achieve success. Thanks Elon now space exploration has been decentralized. New companies are emerging.
ReplyDeleteJust admit that no one has ever been to the moon ... Enough with the lies already
ReplyDeleteAww… poor thing. Science just not within your grasp.
Deleteyae yae fk off
DeleteSounds like F-off is what you did during science class!!! Lol!
Delete😂😂those classes stressed me out ...I bunked them
Delete"because we didn't go there and that's the way it happened," Buzz Aldrin.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean likely ? It either failed or it didn’t..
ReplyDeleteThey might have only lost communication with the lander it might have survived the landing.
DeleteBut most lightly not.
You don't try, you already failed. Keep trying.
ReplyDeleteIt did not complete its mission however it did not fail.
DeleteWhat do you think I said. If you don't try, you have already failed. Get it!
DeleteBut there’s more to it. They collected a boatload of data to better prepare for the next flight.
DeleteThat isn't what I am saying. I am making a general statement countering what the complainers are saying that it was a failed mission. I am saying at least they tried. It didn't have the perfect outcome, but imagine if they didn't even try.
DeleteBut can we see the dark side of the moon is the real test
ReplyDeleteTested 4 years ago by China, Dude.
Deletehttps://www.history.com/.../china-plans-historic-landing...
how did I miss this
DeleteWhy? We can't look after this planet. Potential rubbish dump?
ReplyDeletethere's no failure, only a learning experience
ReplyDeleteThey should have gotten trumf on their team. LMFAO
ReplyDelete😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🎬🎦
ReplyDeletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/the-x-files-alien-aliens-xT9IgEx8SbQ0teblUQ
After a decade, still can't make it, unman, high tech?
ReplyDeleteJust admit it, no Human has never passed through the Van Allen belt and survived.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing on the Moon is Probes.
Are you all talk or do you have proof to back up your false claims?
DeleteI'll be waiting.....
https://media.tenor.co/U7oRtaT1ZDkAAAAC/waiting-skeleton.gif?t=AAX6O9_a5yUKvrDMnw9QMg&c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2s&itemid=23316859
Wrong. Nothing goes past the firmament. Operation Fishbowl proved this.
Deletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/UnixUQzZBUb4I
DeleteJust for your information...... 9 Apollo missions sent humans through the Van Allen belts, and the astronauts survived just fine. The radiation levels in the Van Allen belts are high, about 1000 times higher than normal space. Still, so long as one doesn't stay in that region for a long time, one is perfectly okay.Jul 20, 2018
DeleteJust keep fighting back..if we don't, the morons that didn't get past 5th grade will take over the world. They won't use their own eyes or do their own tests, and will never stop believing they have the answers and everyone else is lying to them..The worst part is they continue to grow, and, from what they choose to believe (flat earth, firmament, aliens among us) it looks like they are only getting dumber as time goes on..
DeleteStill?
ReplyDeleteYou can't land on plasma, retards.
ReplyDeleteLet's try it again folks. You'll get it next time. Good work so far 😎
ReplyDeleteInteresting read, I now wonder what the logistics to creating Lunar GPS are 🤔 To Google I go!
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteYou'd put a bunch of satellites into orbit around the moon that would all beam radio messages down to the surface which, when picked up by a receiver on the surface, would allow triangluation to be used to determine position. Not much point in doing it, though.
DeleteI'm no rocket scientist but with today's technology aren't landers supposed to be able to bring themselves in from a certain altitude? On Earth airplanes have been able to land themselves by using autopilot for years.
ReplyDeleteFailure is a Teaching Moment. Hope their Money Guy believes that.
ReplyDeletethe emeratis? Doubtful.
DeleteOr maybe American exceptionalism
ReplyDeleteYou can't believe what they tell us anymore and we won't they better listen to the people that pays the Bill's and the is we!
ReplyDeleteIm reading elsewhere that the landing actually failed🤔
ReplyDeleteYeah so is landing on the Sun…
ReplyDeleteland at night.
DeleteThe 'inhabitants' do not like unannounced or uninvited vistors. Just how it is....
ReplyDeleteEspecially If they didn’t even know which zone they were trying to land and where to get the permit.
DeleteStill proud to have had my little part in it. Just another challenge to overcome!
ReplyDeleteElon Musk is watching this eating popcorn 😅😅😅
ReplyDeleteOnly truth is no one bene in moon
ReplyDeleteyour conspiracy theory might be more believable if you could spell.
Deletehaha
DeleteWhat's the big deal? It was just an "unscheduled rapid disassembly". I hear those are all the rage these days.
ReplyDeleteMusk can land it one tenth the price. And he doesn’t need to outsource to China.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to them.. When you fail you learn so you can try again.
ReplyDeleteCan't be...we are new age ...how nail Armstrong can do?? Should we do better now...
ReplyDeleteWe need to check if Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were aliens or not. 🙄
ReplyDeleteNeil A spelled backwards is Alien
Deletethat’s it
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteOr we haven't made it yet.
ReplyDeleteLove all the moon landing deniers self identifying for a 🚫. Good day to scrub the feed.
ReplyDeleteyou think Mashable is going to block that many people.. ok....
DeleteFailure is an option.
ReplyDeleteThey are just small private sector
ReplyDeleteit's great start keep going
https://media1.tenor.co/images/aeade3380e9d24a0e4c0cb834758b043/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=17130795
ReplyDeleteTheir faces...! 🧐🥺🤯😳😭😢
ReplyDeleteWe need tony stank.....I mean stark
ReplyDeleteMade in China.
ReplyDeleteFunny that!
ReplyDeletetawagoto!
ReplyDeletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/hateplow-moon-hateplow-libration-3e80bmOBgeCZO
ReplyDeleteBECAUSE NO ONE HAS
ReplyDeleteNice story.
ReplyDeletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/snl-saturday-night-live-season-46-kIHCnKRBu3pPEN4tki
ReplyDeleteLeave it to the pros! NASA of the 60's and 70's! It all fell apart after that!
ReplyDeleteYea that's why we haven't been their yet or maybe never.
ReplyDeletehilarious theater
ReplyDeleteOopsie!
ReplyDeleteFirmament.
ReplyDeletehttps://media.tenor.co/1c55gFUyqCcAAAAC/moon-digibyte-moon.gif?t=AAX6LjSjX1oK7DVODQwjHQ&c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2s&itemid=18080356
ReplyDeleteThey look sad
ReplyDeletethis makes Savage Garden's To The Moon & Back even less believable...
ReplyDeleteCan’t get through the firmament.
ReplyDeleteOnly hard if you people don't know what heck you're doing
ReplyDelete