Japanese company ispace’s ‘Resilience’ moon lander faces communication blackout after touchdown attempt

Japan’s private space company ispace is facing uncertainty after its lunar lander Resilience attempted a historic moon touchdown early Friday, only to fall silent shortly after its scheduled landing time. The blackout has triggered a tense wait for confirmation as flight controllers pore over data from the final descent.

The mission marked ispace’s second lunar attempt, a follow-up to its 2023 moonshot that ended in a crash.

Touchdown attempt ends in radio silence

Launched from Florida in January, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. Its final descent targeted a flat plain in the Mare Frigoris, or “Sea of Cold,” a relatively benign region on the moon’s near-north side. The selected landing site, with its smooth terrain and sparse boulder coverage, was considered ideal for a safe landing.

But despite a smooth descent, telemetry data indicated a sudden drop in altitude just before the planned touchdown at 4:17 a.m. JST (1917 GMT). Minutes later, ispace announced it had not yet received a signal from the lander and said it could take more time to confirm its fate.

A new phase in commercial moon landings

Resilience was riding a new wave of commercial moon efforts. It launched aboard a SpaceX rocket, sharing the trip with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which beat it to the surface in March — becoming the first private entity to land on the moon successfully.

Other competitors include Intuitive Machines, whose own lunar lander toppled in a crater and failed shortly after landing near the moon’s south pole. By contrast, Resilience targeted a safer region at the top of the moon for a mission lasting up to two weeks.

A small rover and a toy-sized red house

The 2.3-meter-tall Resilience carried Tenacious, a lightweight 11-pound (5 kg) rover equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel to scoop lunar regolith for NASA research. Once deployed — which may happen over the weekend — Tenacious is expected to explore the surface in slow circles, reaching up to 1 km from the lander during the two-week lunar day.

The bigger picture: Global moon push

Only five countries — Russia, the US, China, India, and Japan — have achieved successful robotic lunar landings. Among them, only the US has landed astronauts on the moon, with NASA’s Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.

Now, private companies are entering the field with increased frequency. By the end of this year, Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology (whose first lander failed in 2024) are aiming for new moonshots.

NASA itself plans to send four astronauts around the moon in 2026 as part of the Artemis program, with a crewed lunar landing expected afterward, using SpaceX's Starship for descent. China, too, is targeting a crewed lunar mission by 2030.

Awaiting signal

For now, ispace engineers are still trying to re-establish contact with Resilience. If successful, it would mark a significant milestone for Japan’s private space sector and the growing commercial lunar industry.