Japanese start-up ispace has failed in its attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon. The unmanned Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander was scheduled to arrive on the Moon’s surface overnight but communications were lost during its descent and had still not been re-established 25 minutes after the scheduled landing. The company said its engineers were working to establish why the landing had failed. Although the firm does not expect to complete the lunar landing at this time, it believes it has fully accomplished the significance of this mission, having acquired a great deal of data and experience. The firm is developing two further attempts to land on the lunar surface and the setback would not change that.
