There is no sign of the special Japanese mission that was supposed to land on the moon

Japanese mission Hakuto-R which was supposed to land this tuesday in The surface of the moon At the moment, he has not contacted the control center of whom Land, So the fate of this particular investigation is uncertain.

company isspace, The person in charge of the project, issued a statement saying that “Currently, the control center in Hakuto-R’s mission in Nihonbashi (Tokyo) Unable to confirm success Molelandr “, the ship that was supposed to explore The satellite.

The mission should have reached its destination at 16:41 GMT according to the countdown that can be seen in Re-transmitter the living it provides Japanese company.

In the absence of news, the Specialized engineers In Operations ‘Continue to work’ to confirm the current status of probe. More information on his status will be announced as it becomes available. available”, Add the statement.

The signal from the probe was expected to take a few minutes to arrive ReceiveBut time passed without news of the mill and I can’t In the room was increasing, so the company decided Cuts for a while Re-transmitter Live up to the details.

After about 20 minutes, ispace Contact resumed and a spokesperson reported that they had contacts with boat Until moments ago Landing on the moon But in the end it was lost. “We can’t define itLanding In the The surface of the moon“, He said.

The team is still investigating task status Although the speaker himself emphasized that it was a success that they achieved communication With the ship at the last moments before drop“But now we’ve lost contact,” he said.

We will never give up

Despite the serious faces of the team and the audience that was watching drop The spokesperson said: “We are very proud that we have achieved many things in this field a task, They obtained the data a few moments ago Landing on the moon”.

“This is a great achievement for two tasks in the future. Announce and thank all the employees who have contributed to this mission since the founding of the company and their families as well shareholder clients and others involved. “We will persist, and we will never give up.”

Japanese company ispace is the firstfor your signatureto the world that you have programmed Landing ship In the moon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has sent a similar mission in cooperation with NASA Last November, although contact with her was also lost one day after launch.

the Hakuto-R lunar probe thrown aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX From Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) last December.

This device is 2.3 meters high and 2.6 meters long, carrying a small exploration robot developed by JAXA And by the Japanese company Tomy, in addition to a lunar vehicle designed by him The United Arab Emirates.

The objective of Hakuto-R’s first mission is testing techniques of the proportions and maneuverability of their machines and would be considered successful if they could maintain communications and operability thereafter drop; You will have to wait.

Founded in 2010, ispace Defines itself as a “global” company with a vision Expand the planta” and “expanding the future” based on specific actions such as providing high-frequency, low-cost transmission services between the Earth and the Moon.

The company has offices in Japan, Luxembourg and the United States, and have joint ventures with NASA and European Space Agency.

Tough week

The yet to be decided destination for this Japanese mission comes to complete a tough week in space exploration.

On April 20, The Great Rocket SpaceX spacecraftwhich was scheduled to make its first integrated test flight, exploded over the skies of Texas (USA) minutes after take-off.

This operator from the company Elon Musk Astronauts are scheduled to return to the moon one day for the first time in more than half a century. EFE