The landing of the Japanese lunar module Hakuto-R, also known as Resilience, ended in failure. This was stated at a press conference by the head of the developer company Ispace Takeshi Hakamada.
"We have come to the conclusion that it is difficult to establish communication with the module and it is impossible to complete the mission. "Therefore, we can say that the landing was unsuccessful," he said.
The company's statement noted that the company's priority now is to analyze the data received to determine the cause of the failure.
During the live broadcast, about a minute and a half before the planned landing time, the module's flight altitude suddenly dropped to zero.
Ispace has already tried to send its module to the Moon in April 2023. Then, in the last seconds before landing, while communication with the module was still maintained, it accelerated sharply and the company reported that communication with it would not be restored and therefore the landing was considered unsuccessful.
Hakuto-R was developed by the Japanese company Ispace, based in Tokyo. The spacecraft is 2.3 meters tall. It was launched to the Moon on January 15 aboard the Falcon 9 rocket of the American company SpaceX.