Japanese-owned lunar lander suffers crash during moon landing attempt
NASA's Rivals Bite the Lunar Dust Again: ispace's Resilience Mission Falls Flat
Cantharus 22 Magazine
Oh, Moon! The tranquil sphere, our cosmic neighbor, continues to allure humanity with its mysterious allure. Yet, the latest chase of ambitious space-chasing companies ended in yet another heartbreaking stumble reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Prometheus. This time, a Japanese start-up, ispace, led the doomed dance, with their second moonshot crashing into the lunar surface on June 6th.
consists of a talented team that learned from their first failed attempt two years prior. The mission aimed high; Resilience carried a Finnish artist's charming red house, Moonhouse, and a rover equipped with a shovel to collect lunar soil for NASA. Balling up at zero darkness, this sleek lander, adorned with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and wheels, seemed poised for lunar grandeur. But as the final seconds ticked away, contact was severed, and mission control was left with only deafening silence.
Reports suggest that Resilience, speeding towards its demise, suffered from a malfunctioned laser system designed to measure altitude. As a result, it plummeted too quickly and met the same gruesome fate as its predecessor. "We were not able to land again," regretted Hakamada, the company's CEO and founder. Still, he urged his team to shake off the disappointment and charge forward with more missions. "This lunar landing was merely a stepping stone," he said, hinting at future ventures that will hopefully be less treacherous than their recent attempt.
Lunar exploration has long been dominated by public entities such as NASA, but private companies have joined the race in recent years. In 2019, NASA opened the lunar gateway to these enterprising adventurers, but so far, the wins have been few and far between. NASA expects to send its astronauts on a loop around the moon next year, followed by the first manned landing in more than a half-century a year or more later. Let's hope their mission fares better than poor Resilience.
Source: The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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- Did Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and NASA team up to build a lunar lander? Read more here
- The European Space Agency (ESA)'s ExoMars rover, scheduled to launch in 2022, seeks to detect signs of Martian life. Read more here
- Scientists have discovered a newly-discovered mineral spanning the entire length of the Grand Canyon. Read more here
- The International Space Station serves as a hub for cutting-edge scientific research. Read more here
- Despite the setback with ispace's Resilience Mission, other private companies continue to push the boundaries of space-and-astronomy, such as SpaceX, whose Falcon Heavy rocket, carrying the Starship, garnered the attention of tech giants.
- Interestingly, NASA and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are reportedly collaborating on a project to build a lunar lander, a joint effort indicative of the growing involvement of private businesses in space exploration.
- Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing for the launch of the ExoMars rover in 2022, with the mission focusing on detecting signs of Martian life, another significant step in the realm of space-and-astronomy.
- In Earth-bound news, scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery, finding a newly-discovered mineral spanning the entire length of the Grand Canyon, a find that has captivated the world of science.
- As a hub for cutting-edge scientific research, the International Space Station continues to play a crucial role in advancing our understanding of various fields, including technology and finance.
