Japanese company loses contact with lunar rover carrying DCU samples

Members of staff watch the live stream of Hakuto-R private lunar exploration programme on a screen (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

A Japanese company has lost contact with its spacecraft which was carrying on board samples that were produced in an Irish university.

Contact was lost just moments before it was due to touch down on the moon this evening. 

Tokyo-based company ispace has said the mission has apparently failed. 

Eight samples of metal and polymer from Dublin City University's (DCU's) School of Chemical Sciences were on board the Rashid Lunar Rover to help facilitate a study on how moon dust sticks to different surfaces. 

Moondust is very sharp, dry and fine and difficult to reproduce on Earth. It can interfere with electronics and can causes issues with astronauts’ visors, bearings on their spacesuits, and electronics.

Project lead, Dr Susan Kelleher said: "The aim of the experiment is to see if the different structure pattern can reduce moon dust (regolith), from binding to the surface of the lander.”

Led by Dr Kelleher, scientists at DCU gathered this evening to watch the lunar landing live.

We're all tuned in to watch the landing of the @ispace_inc lander. So thrilled that @DCU and @DCUChemistry has been involved with @esa @MBRSpaceCentre on this exciting mission! Fingers crossed for a successful landing! pic.twitter.com/Q8opllMaPH

— Susan Kelleher (@kellehersan) April 25, 2023

The Rashid Lunar Rover was made by engineers and scientists at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in the United Arab Emirates and was set to be brought to the moon. 

If it had landed, the company would have been the first private business to pull off a lunar landing.

However, communications stopped as the lander descended the final 33 feet, travelling at about 16 mph. 

Flight controllers peered at their screens in Tokyo, with no expression, as the minutes went by with no word from the lander - which is presumed to have crashed. 

Founder and CEO, Takeshi Hakamda said: "We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface." 

Journalist film the models of the lander and the lunar rover of Hakuto-R private lunar exploration programme prior to the livestream of the lunar landing event (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

The 7-foot Japanese lander carried the Rashid Lunar Rover and a toylike robot from Japan designed to roll around in the moon dust. There were also items from private customers on board.

Named Hakuto – Japanese for white rabbit – the spacecraft targeted the Atlas crater in the north-eastern section of the moon’s near side, more than 50 miles across and just over a mile deep.

Hakuto took a long, roundabout route to the moon after its December liftoff, beaming back photographs of Earth along the way.

So far, only three governments have successfully touched down on the moon: Russia, the United States and China.

An Israeli nonprofit tried to land on the moon in 2019 but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact.