Ciencia.-iSpace assumes an emergency landing of its HAKUTO R spacecraft on the surface of the Moon – Publimetro México

Madrid, 26 (Europe Press)

This small 14-kilogram spacecraft, with a rover from the United Arab Emirates inside, was the first privately owned ship to reach the surface of the satellite on April 25. Although the telemetry data during the descent was correct, the spacecraft did not send a signal that it had reached the lunar soil in Crater Atlas. The landing was scheduled for 16:40 UTC.

Finally, at 2300 UTC, communication between the probe and Mission Control was lost, although it was expected until after touchdown, and it was determined that the objective was to reach the Moon under control and to send a signal back to Earth. can not be achieved.

Based on currently available data, the control center “confirmed that the probe was in an upright position during final approach to the lunar surface. Shortly after the expected landing time, no data indicating a landing was received. The space engineers monitored the estimated remaining fuel that was reached.” to it at a minimum and shortly after the rate of descent rapidly increased, after which a loss of contact occurred and accordingly it was determined that there was a high probability that the lander would have finally landed on the surface of the Moon.

To find the root cause of this situation, ispace engineers are currently working on a detailed analysis of the telemetry data obtained up to the end of the landing sequence and will clarify the details after the analysis is completed, according to the release.

iSpace however believes that this is a huge step forward for future lunar exploration and an important milestone for taking space development by the private sector to the next level, not only in Japan but also in the world. The Japanese company is working on new missions to the lunar Earth.