NASA: New images of the Japanese rover crash on the Moon
NASA has unveiled the first images of the crash site of the Japanese lunar module Resilience, thereby confirming the botched lunar landing of the company ispace.
The images were captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft and depict a dark mark on the lunar crater Mare Frigoris in the Moon’s northern hemisphere. This dark spot is surrounded by a faint layer of lunar dust, stirred up by the impact.
NASA’s LRO Views ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 2 Moon Lander Impact Site: On June 11, NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) captured photos of the site where the ispace Mission 2 SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon (RESILIENCE) lunar lander experienced a hard lan… https://t.co/ViNHqWJnJq pic.twitter.com/39stJoDvWS
– Elysia Segal (@elysiasegal) June 20, 2025
The Resilience spacecraft, an integral part of the Hakuto-R Mission 2, was launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and reached lunar orbit after an almost five-month journey. Its task was to deploy a small European-built rover named Tenacious on the lunar surface for a two-week mission. High-resolution video and data were to be relayed back to Earth, to be overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its associates. Regrettably, the company failed to land it successfully.
The mission, launched from Cape Canaveral in January, marks the second unsuccessful attempt by ispace to land a vehicle on the Moon in two years.
The company is slated to conduct a press conference next week to shed light on the reasons behind the failure.
With information from The Associated Press
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