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Japanese space company fails: lunar lander Resilience” crashes!
Ispace, a Japanese space company, lost contact with its lunar lander Resilience before its scheduled landing. The mission was aborted after no data was received.
Japanese space company fails: lunar lander Resilience” crashes!
On June 6, 2025, the Japanese space company Ispace lost contact with its lunar lander “Resilience” shortly before its planned landing. The lunar lander was scheduled to land in Mare Frigoris in the far north of the moon, but communication was deemed "unlikely" to be restored, leading to the mission being aborted. Loud vienna.at The control center had activated the engines to slow the lander, and the lander's position reached almost vertical. However, after the scheduled landing time, no data confirming a successful landing could be received.
The mission would have been the third successful lunar landing by a private company, and Ispace would have been the first non-U.S. company to successfully complete a lunar landing. The “Resilience” lunar lander, which was launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in January 2025, was equipped with a mini rover called “Tenacious”. This was developed by Ispace-Europe in Luxembourg to take photos and collect material.
Background of the moon landing
The history of the mission is also remarkable: Ispace's first lunar lander crashed on the lunar surface in April 2023. Hakamada, the CEO of Ispace, emphasized that the operational experience from these previous missions had been used. In addition, the Japanese space agency Jaxa succeeded in a soft moon landing with the “Slim” probe in January 2024.
A similar lunar lander, “Blue Ghost”, was able to land successfully in the area of Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium in March 2025. This device was launched into space by Firefly Aerospace, which followed on from the success of the private company Intuitive Machines, which landed its “Odysseus” lander on the moon in April 2024. However, “Odysseus” tipped over after landing and was only able to carry out partial investigations. The path to a successful moon landing therefore remains a major challenge for private companies.
In a broader context, the focus was also on the United Arab Emirates' "Hakuto-R" lunar lander, which was scheduled to land on the moon on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. Swiss time. This mission, which has now been started after several postponements, would also have represented a historic step and would have been the first private lunar mission. “Hakuto” means “white rabbit” in Japanese, a character from Japanese mythology who lives on the moon. The lunar lander was tested in Ottobrunn near Munich and took an energy-efficient route to the moon to save fuel.
Developments in the area of lunar landings demonstrate both the progress and challenges facing private companies. Despite the setbacks, the fascination for exploring the moon remains unbroken and it remains to be seen what successes the next missions will bring.