Japanese space company "ispage" published on June 6, and the landing of the lunar module "RESILIENCE" failed again. Landing was carried out at around 4 a.m., and the lunar module once tried to descend from a lunar orbit of 100 kilometers above, which may have collided with the lunar surface due to failure to slow down sufficiently, resulting in a landing failure.
Takeshi Hakada said at a press conference on the morning of the 6th that the telemetry data of the lunar lander "Tough" suddenly disappeared before the landing of the lunar lander. Based on the current situation, it is very likely that it will land hard on the moon. After the communication from the lander disappeared, they tried to start the lander again, but failed to establish the communication. Therefore, it was decided to terminate this mission by determining the difficulty of landing on the moon. The specific reasons for the landing failure are still under investigation.
In April 2023, the company challenged to become the world's first private enterprise to achieve a moon landing, but it ended in failure. When the company attempted to land in 2023, the lunar module remained stationary over the air and fell after the fuel was exhausted due to the inability to link the altitude sensor and the flight system. Afterwards, American companies achieved successful landing.
This time, as the first attempt to land on the moon by an Asian private enterprise, has not been successful. This mission is called "White Rabbit-R Lunar Expedition", and is another moon landing attempt after the launch of the "White Rabbit-R" mission lunar lander in December 2022. Mission 1 lunar lander lost contact with the ground during the landing process in the early morning of April 26, 2023 and failed to complete the lunar landing mission.
It is reported that the lunar module is about 2.3 meters high and 2.6 meters wide. The cabin is loaded with the company's small detection vehicle and other companies' experimental equipment. In January this year, it was launched from Florida, USA on the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX, and entered the orbit of the moon in May. The lander carries multiple payloads, including a mini lunar rover, a water electrolytic device for the lunar surface, a deep space radiation detector, etc. It was originally planned to land in the "cold sea" in the northern hemisphere of the lunar.
According to Takeshi Hakata, at 3:13 on the 6th, the Mission Control Center sent a landing command to the "Tough". After the lander fell to about 20 kilometers from the lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 kilometers, the main engine ignited as planned and began to slow down. After the lander's attitude is adjusted to almost perpendicular to the moon, the telemetry data disappears. After 4:17, no data showing landing was received.
Tashi Hakata said that it is confirmed that the laser rangefinder measuring the distance between the lander and the moon surface has lagged behind the effective measurement value, and the lander failed to fully slow down to the necessary speed for landing on the moon surface.
