Attempt to land private moon lander in jeopardy – as contact lost

Japan's private space company ispace has said it has lost contact with its uncrewed moon lander, following its lunar touchdown attempt.

"We have not yet been able to establish communication", the company posted on X, adding that control centre members are "continuing to work to contact the lander".

The mission, with its aircraft named Resilience, is its second attempt on the moon - following its failed inaugural mission in 2023.

The company's live-streamed flight data showed the moon lander's altitude drop to zero - just before its scheduled touchdown time of 8:17pm on Thursday.

Footage from the control room showed the faces of nervous engineers - and silence, in a room full of ispace employees, shareholders, and government officials.

The Tokyo-based firm hopes to follow in the steps of US companies Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace - which have already conducted successful commercial landings.

Takeshi Hakamada, ispace CEO, will hold a press conference later in the evening - to offer an update on the mission.

In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude.

Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said.