Japan’s $20 Million Quest for Lunar Landing Thwarted as Hakuto-R Loses Contact

The Hakuto-R Lander of Japan aimed to become the first private spacecraft and the first Japanese-built vehicle ever to land softly on the moon.

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As Ispace lost touch with Hakuto-R just as it was scheduled to land softly onto the moon’s surface on April 25, the attempt failed.

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Takashi Hakamada, Ispace's founder and CEO, said during a webcast of the attempt that the company could not complete the landing on the lunar surface.

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In case the lander wasn’t able to land, Ispace had alternate landing dates planned.

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Firing its main propulsion system to decelerate from orbit during the landing sequence, the lander was to perform a braking burn.

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An estimated one hour was expected to be taken by the entire process.

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The landing try of today capped more than a decade of work by Ispace, which operated Team Hakuto in the Google Lunar X Prize from 2013 to 2018.

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In December 2022, Hakuto got to the launch pad, sending the lander aloft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a test mission called M1.

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