spacetoday.net: ispace lander crashes on the Moon

Posted: Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:25 AM ET (1525 GMT)
A lander built by Japanese company ispace likely ran out of propellant and crashed on the lunar surface Tuesday. The HAKUTO-R M1 lander was scheduled to land at 12:40 p.m. Eastern in the vicinity of Atlas Crater on the moon. The company said it lost contact with the lander just before the scheduled touchdown and could not restore contact. In a later statement, ispace said telemetry showed propellant reached the "lower threshold" during final descent, after which the lander's speed increased, suggesting it ran out of propellant for its engines. The company acknowledged that the spacecraft made a hard landing and that restoring communications "is no longer achievable." The lander carried a set of payloads for commercial and government customers, including a small rover from the UAE.