Japanese space firm loses communication with lunar lander

Japanese startup ispace misplaced contact Wednesday with its Hakuto-R lunar lander, the corporate mentioned, suggesting its bid to be the primary non-public agency to position a spacecraft on the Moon had failed.

“We have not confirmed communication with the lander,” an organization official mentioned about 25 minutes after the deliberate touchdown.

“We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface,” the official mentioned.