The Japanese Hakuto-R module likely made a hard landing on the moon, a successful landing and communications installation is not possible, according to a press release from ispace, the company that is implementing the project.
"The Hakuto-R mission's lunar landing module was scheduled to land on the lunar surface around 01.40 Japanese time (19.40 April 25 Moscow time). As of 08:00 Japanese time (02:00 Moscow time) on April 26, communication between the Mission Control Center (MCC) and the module was lost, although it should have been even after the moon landing. It was determined that the success of the ninth phase of the mission was no longer achievable," the company said.
Experts of the Mission Control Center have confirmed that the landing module was in the vertical position at the time of the final approach to the surface of the moon. There was no indication after the planned landing time that it successfully reached the Earth's satellite.
"The ispace engineers monitored the propellant level as it approached the lower limit, and then its (module - ed.) rate of descent increased sharply. After that, there was a loss of communication. Based on these data, it was determined a high probability that the landing module eventually made a hard landing on the surface of the moon," - noted in the company.
Ispace intends to collect all possible flight data to "significantly improve technological readiness for a second mission in 2024 and a third mission in 2025."
Ispace founder Takeshi Hakamada said that despite the failure of the mission, the company was able to collect "a huge amount of information" and gain experience that is planned to apply for the second launch.
In turn, the President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hiroshi Yamakawa supported the project and promised to continue cooperation with ispace and other companies developing the space.
Japan's first lunar landing module was launched December 11 from Cape Canaveral using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Prior to that, the launch had been delayed several times due to technical reasons on the part of SpaceX. The module is to be the first part of the Hakuto-R lunar project, which is being implemented by the private company ispace.
The last of the intermediate stages before the landing - orbital flight control maneuvers - was completed on April 13. Inside was the Rashid mini moon rover, developed by the UAE.
If the landing of the Hakuto-R had been successful, Japan would have become the fourth country in the world to successfully land the vehicle on the moon. To date, only the USSR, the United States, and China have been able to do so. India's and Israel's 2019 spacecraft crashed while attempting to land. This would also be the first successful landing of a commercial company's lander on the moon since Israel's Bereshit crashed on descent.
