Watch: Tokyo company loses contact with lander in likely crash

An artist's impression of the Hakuto spacecraft on the surface of the moon with the Earth in the background. Illustration / AP

A Japanese company lost contact with its spacecraft moments before touchdown on the moon Wednesday, saying the mission had apparently failed.

Communications ceased as the lander descended the final 10m, travelling around 25kph. Flight controllers peered at their screens in Tokyo, expressionless, as minutes went by with no word from the lander, which is presumed to have crashed.

“We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface,” said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of the company, space.

An hour later, he said he could not confirm the lander had crashed, telling The Associated Press that engineers should have a better idea later in the day of what went wrong.

If all had gone well, his company would have been the first private business to pull off a lunar landing. Hakamada vowed to try again, saying a second moonshot is already in the works for next year, regardless of Wednesday’s outcome.

Takeshi Hakamada is the founder and CEO of ispace, which tried to put a lander on the moon. Photo / AP

Only three governments have successfully touched down on the moon: Russia, the United States and China. An Israeli nonprofit tried to land on the moon in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact.

The 2.3m Japanese lander carried a mini lunar rover for the United Arab Emirates and a toylike robot from Japan designed to roll around in the moon dust. There were also items from private customers on board.

Named Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit, the spacecraft had targeted Atlas crater in the northeastern section of the moon’s near side, more than 87km across and just over 2km deep.

A photographer shoots the models of the lander and the lunar rover of Hakuto-R private lunar exploration programme before the landing attempt. Photo / AP

It took a long, roundabout route to the moon following its December liftoff, beaming back photos of Earth along the way. The lander entered lunar orbit on March 21.

For this test flight, the two main experiments were government-sponsored: the UAE’s 10kg rover Rashid, named after Dubai’s royal family, and the Japanese Space Agency’s orange-sized sphere designed to transform into a wheeled robot on the moon. With a science satellite already around Mars and an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, the UAE was seeking to extend its presence to the moon.

Founded in 2010, ispace hopes to start turning a profit as a one-way taxi service to the moon for other businesses and organizations. The company has already raised US$300 million to cover the first three missions, according to Hakamada.

A model of the lander of Hakuto-R at Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Tokyo. Photo / AP

“We will keep going, never quit lunar quest,” he said.

Two lunar landers built by private companies in the US are awaiting liftoff later this year, with NASA participation.

Hakuto and the Israeli spacecraft named Beresheet were finalists in the Google Lunar X Prize competition requiring a successful landing on the moon by 2018. The US$20 million grand prize went unclaimed.