Tokyo-based ispace Inc. said it’s trying to make contact with its lunar lander after attempting to become the first non-US company to reach the moon’s surface intact.
Ispace’s Resilience lander was expected to touch down on the moon after 4 a.m. Japan time on Friday, but the company ended its live stream of the landing attempt without confirming the status of the mission.
A press conference is scheduled for 9 a.m., the company said.
The mission follows a failed attempt in 2023 when a programming error led to a crash of the spacecraft. Success today would make ispace the third company to park a spacecraft safely on the moon after Texas-based rivals Intuitive Machines Inc. and Firefly Aerospace Inc., as countries race to explore the moon.
The Japanese lander launched into space aboard one of Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets in January. The rocket also launched a lander from Firefly that touched down on the lunar surface in March.
Resilience was expected to dispatch its rover, named Tenacious, which is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel to collect lunar regolith and transmit data back to the lander. Ispace signed a contract in 2020 with NASA to provide the US agency with regolith collected on the moon’s surface.
Aboard the lander are customer payloads with varying purposes including a commemorative plate from Bandai Namco Research Institute Inc. — an affiliate of the entertainment company behind game brands like Pac Man and Gundam — and experimental equipment such as a device to extract hydrogen from water.
Ispace plans to send its landers more frequently to the moon starting in 2027, with an aim to transport payloads two or three times a year, according to company’s founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada. The plan is based on his belief that humans could start making a living on the moon as early as the 2040s.