Resilience's Lunar Silence: ispace's Latest Attempt in Moon Landing

Japanese company ispace announced they failed to establish communication with their uncrewed moon lander, Resilience, after a lunar touchdown attempt. This follows two years after their inaugural mission also failed, highlighting the challenges in the global commercial race to the moon.

The moon lander, targeting Mare Frigoris near the moon's north pole, suddenly dropped in altitude, as live-streamed data showed, just before its planned landing. The mission control room displayed tension as engineers struggled to communicate with the lander, described as state-of-the-art.

Resilience carried a four-wheeled rover and several scientific instruments, aiming for a 14-day exploration task before the cold lunar night. The global commercial space community closely observes ispace's outcome, while Japan's commitment to future lunar missions remains steadfast, with plans linked to NASA's Artemis program.

(With inputs from agencies.)