Early this month, Japanese company iSpace faced a setback when its "Resilience" lunar lander crashed while attempting to land on the Moon's northernmost region, the Sea of Cold (Mare Frigoris). Company officials announced the news in Tokyo, stating that the cause was a slow-starting laser rangefinder that failed to accurately measure the spacecraft's distance from the lunar surface.

As described, the lander was descending at 42 meters per second when contact was lost, crashing five seconds later. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter transmitted photos of the crash site last week, confirming that the "Resilience" and its micro-rover had been reduced to debris. This marks iSpace's second lunar lander crash in two years, the previous one in 2023 due to a software issue.

In recent years, private companies have made some progress in lunar landing attempts, but success rates remain low. Of seven attempts, only Firefly Aerospace's "Blue Ghost" lander succeeded in March this year. Notably, "Blue Ghost" launched alongside "Resilience."

Despite consecutive setbacks, iSpace has not abandoned its lunar plans. The company continues to collaborate with NASA on a third lunar landing attempt in 2027, as well as a planned fourth mission. Officials stated that additional testing and improvements will increase development costs by up to 1.5 billion yen (over $10 million) to ensure success.

iSpace CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada emphasized that the company "will not back down in the face of setbacks" and is committed to regaining customer trust. External experts will join the accident investigation, and iSpace will collaborate more closely with the Japanese Aerospace Agency on technical matters. Hakamada firmly stated in Japanese: "We are taking firm steps toward our future missions."