Japan’s private lunar lander, Resilience, developed by the Tokyo-based company ispace, crashed during its landing attempt on the Moon in the early hours of June 6, 2025, marking the company’s second failed lunar landing in just over two years.

The mission aimed to achieve a historic touchdown at Mare Frigoris, a relatively flat region near the Moon’s north pole, and was closely watched by a global audience via live broadcast. Communication with the lander was lost less than two minutes before the scheduled touchdown, echoing the fate of ispace’s previous Hakuto-R mission, which also ended in a crash in 2023 due to altitude miscalculations.

Initial telemetry indicated that Resilience began its automated descent from a 100-kilometre lunar orbit as planned, successfully firing its main engine at 20 kilometres altitude to initiate deceleration. However, during the crucial final phase, the lander’s laser rangefinder, responsible for measuring the distance to the lunar surface, experienced delays in obtaining valid measurement values.

As a result, Resilience was unable to decelerate sufficiently, leading to a hard impact with the lunar surface rather than a controlled soft landing. Mission controllers lost contact with the spacecraft, and no data indicating a successful landing was received even after the scheduled landing time had passed. The company later confirmed that the lander likely performed a hard landing, with fuel reserves expiring before the final braking manoeuvre could be completed.

The Resilience lander carried several scientific payloads, including a European-built mini rover named Tenacious, designed for lunar soil sample collection and water detection experiments. It also included a symbolic model house crafted by a Swedish artist. The mission was part of ispace’s broader ambition to establish a “cislunar economy” by enabling commercial activities and scientific experiments on the Moon.

Despite extensive preparations and lessons learned from the previous failure, the outcome underscores the persistent technical challenges of lunar landings, especially for private ventures. While both of ispace’s missions failed due to issues related to altitude measurement and descent control, company executives emphasized that the specific technical faults differed between the two attempts. CEO Takeshi Hakamada expressed regret over the mission’s loss but reaffirmed the company’s commitment to pursuing further lunar missions, highlighting the need for continued innovation and resilience in the face of setbacks.

The crash of Resilience represents a significant setback for ispace and the broader commercial lunar exploration sector, illustrating the formidable difficulties of achieving reliable, precise landings on the Moon’s surface.

Agencies