Islamabad, June 7, 2025: The Japanese space company Ispace has suffered another loss in its efforts to reach the Moon. Its moon lander, Resilience spacecraft, was unable to make a successful landing and ended up crashing. This was the firm’s second attempt, both ending in failure. A third mission is planned for 2027.
After being launched in January on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Resilience spent almost six months making its way toward the Moon, relying on gravity to guide its path. It was meant to land on Thursday afternoon, near Mare Frigoris—a flat area close to the Moon’s north pole.
Unfortunately, the mission did not go as expected. Just under two minutes before the scheduled landing, communication between the spacecraft and mission control was lost. At 3:17 p.m. Eastern Time (4:17 a.m. in Japan), when the landing was due, Ispace cut its live broadcast. The company said it would continue trying to get back in touch with the lander. For the next couple of hours, their social media posts echoed the same message.
By around 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Ispace’s CEO Takeshi Hakamada addressed the media and confirmed that the mission had ended in failure. The team had stopped all efforts to reconnect with the lander.
“This is our second failed mission,” said Hakamada through a translator. “We need to take this outcome seriously,” he added, referring to their previous crash in April 2023.
READ MORE: SUPARCO Predicts Shawwal Moon Sighting Date
Although the company hasn’t yet carried out a full investigation, Ispace engineers believe the moon lander Resilience hit the Moon harder than planned. A statement released on Friday morning explained that the laser tool used to measure the lander’s distance from the surface didn’t provide accurate data in time. Because of this, the spacecraft wasn’t able to slow down enough, and instead of a gentle landing, it likely crashed.
READ MORE: SpaceX Shares First Glimpse of Earth Poles from Space
Still, Ispace is not giving up. The team plans to return in 2027 with two more missions. This time, they will send a new lander, called Apex 1.0, to explore the far side of the Moon, hoping for better results.
