Japan’s private space dreams took another dramatic tumble yesterday, literally. Just moments before touchdown, ispace’s lunar lander, named “Resilience,” crashed spectacularly into the moon. Less than two minutes from landing, communication went dark, and the spacecraft probably slammed into Mare Frigoris, the poetically named “Sea of Cold.”
This wasn’t ispace’s first heartbreak—their 2023 moonshot also ended similarly, inspiring this lander’s name. This failure puts financial pressure on ispace, reminding everyone that the moon remains a challenging neighbor, especially when going private. Even so, CEO Takeshi Hakamada vows they won’t give up. After all, third time’s the charm… hopefully.
