Japan’s Moon Lander Crashes Again: What Happened? 🚀🌕
Hey there, space explorers! 🌟 Have you ever dreamed of landing on the Moon? Well, so has a Japanese company called ispace. They tried to land their robot spacecraft on the Moon not once, but twice! Unfortunately, both times didn’t go as planned. Let’s find out what happened.
The Second Attempt
On Friday, ispace tried to land their lunar lander named Resilience on the Moon. Everyone was excited! But just before it was supposed to touch down, they lost contact with Resilience. 😟
The mission controllers waited and waited, hoping to hear from the lander. But there was only silence. Finally, they had to announce that the mission had failed. CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada apologized and said they’re going to keep trying. He said, “We will learn from this and keep moving forward.”
Why Did It Crash?
So, what went wrong? The engineers think that the laser system that was supposed to measure how high the lander was from the Moon didn’t work correctly. Because of that, Resilience came down too fast and likely crashed into the lunar surface. 🚀💥
What Was Onboard?
Resilience wasn’t just any spacecraft; it was carrying some cool stuff! It had a small rover called Tenacious that was supposed to roll around on the Moon and scoop up some Moon dirt for NASA. It also had a tiny red house made by a Swedish artist, meant to be placed on the Moon’s surface. Can you imagine a little house on the Moon? 🏠🌖
The Commercial Moon Race
ispace isn’t the only company trying to reach the Moon. Many private companies are in a race to land on the Moon and do science experiments there. It’s like the space version of a marathon! 🏃♂️🚀
Landing on the Moon is really hard. Even though we’ve done it before, it’s still a big challenge. Only a few countries have successfully landed on the Moon, and now private companies are trying too.
What’s Next?
Even though this attempt didn’t work out, ispace isn’t giving up. They plan to try again with another mission by 2027, and NASA is going to be involved! That’s pretty cool, right? 😊
Space exploration is all about trying, failing, learning, and trying again. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be part of a team that sends something to the Moon—or even travels there yourself! 🌟
Keep Looking Up!
So, the next time you look at the Moon, remember all the hard work people are doing to explore it. Every mistake brings us one step closer to success. Never stop dreaming big! 🌌
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
