April 26 (UPI) -- The Hakuto-R spacecraft that was supposed to land on the moon likely crashed, according to Ispace, the Japanese company responsible for the project.
The lander was scheduled to reach the moon's surface at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday but lost contact with ground controllers. Shortly afterward, Ispace CEO and team leader, Takeshi Hakamada said, "we have not been able to confirm successful landing."
"Based on currently available data, the Hakuto-R Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, confirmed that the lander was in verticle position as it carried out the final approach to the lunar surface. Shortly after the scheduled landing time, no data was received indicating a touchdown," Ispace said in a statement Wednesday.
"Ispace engineers monitored the estimated remaining propellant reached at the lower threshold and shortly afterward the descent speed rapidly increased. After that, the communication loss happened. Based on this, it has been determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing on the moon's surface," Ispace continued.
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The Hakuto-R was supposed to deploy the United Arab Emirates-built Rashid lunar rover, which would have been the first rover from an Arabic-speaking nation to reach the moon.
Ispace is one of four companies that NASA tasked with collecting lunar samples in the leadup to the planned Artimes mission, which seeks to return humans to the surface of the moon.
"As a fellow Japanese space enthusiast, I am proud of Ispace's challenge and respect the efforts of everyone involved. Ispace will analyze the data obtained from this mission and use it as a foundation for the next mission," said Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa.
Several recent attempts to land rovers on the moon have ended with similar failures. In 2019, the Israeli company SpaceIL lost its Beresheet lander and the year the Indian Space and Research Organization lost its Vikram lander.
"JAXA will continue to make steady progress together with Ispace, the industry and organizations challenging space, and our international partners, and will contribute not only to space exploration activities but also to the sustainable development of human society," Yamakawa continued.
