Japanese lunar exploration company ispace said Wednesday that it had lost communication with its unmanned spacecraft, Hakuto-R, which it sent to the moon, and the mission was presumed to have failed.
“Now we lost the communication. So we have to assume that … we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface,” ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters, according to Kyodo News.
The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander was expected to touch down on the moon at 1.40 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday, but flight controllers lost contact with the lander moments before its descent, according to ispace.
“Shortly after the scheduled landing time, no data was received indicating a touchdown,” the company said in an update….