Moon landing attempt by ispace not looking good

The Japanese lunar exploration company ispace attempted to land on the moon today, June 5, 2025. Watch a replay of the livestream in the player above. The livestream ended with the company still trying to communicate with the lander. It’s not looking good.

Update: The moon lander RESILIENCE, part of ispace’s HAKUTO-R mission 2, did not successfully report back to Earth during its attempted landing today. After many stressful minutes of trying to get a signal and verify its position, ispace ended the livestream with no final word on the lander’s fate. Those tracking the radio signal of HAKUTO-R lost the signal about the time the craft was supposed to land. The company will do a news conference soon when it has more information.

We lost HAKUTO-R M2 signal suddenly

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— AMSAT-DL (@amsat-dl.org) June 5, 2025 at 2:18 PM

We have lost signal of Hakuto-R M2 Resilience! We saw the signal and its Lunar reflection close to each other before LOS, indicating that it was very close to the surface when the signal disappeared. Space is hard!

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— Radiotelescoop Dwingeloo (@radiotelescoop.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 2:19 PM

Moon landing attempt by ispace

The private Japanese lunar exploration company ispace will attempt to land on the moon today, June 5, 2025. You can watch the action beginning at 1:10 p.m. CDT in the player above. If all goes well, the RESILIENCE spacecraft, part of HAKUTO-R mission 2, should touch down on the lunar surface at around 2:24 p.m. CDT.

The spacecraft is aiming for a large lunar basin in the far north called Mare Frigoris. The livestream will include real-time telemetry, with actual photos coming out after the landing.

RESILIENCE launched on January 15, 2025, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket out of Florida. Also onboard that day was Blue Ghost, which took a more direct route to the moon. Blue Ghost landed on the moon on March 2 and wrapped up its mission two weeks later.

This is the second attempt at a moon landing for ispace. In 2023, the first mission, also named HAKUTO-R, ended when the spacecraft lost contact as it neared the lunar surface.

There’s a rover onboard

RESILIENCE is carrying the first European lunar rover. The rover – named TENACIOUS – is technically a micro rover. The company calls it:

One of the smallest and lightest planetary rovers in the world.

Both the rover and the lander will acquire information about the lunar surface to use in future manned missions and for a possible future lunar base. Also, the spacecraft will be testing technology and doing research for life sciences, including cell cultivation. In addition, the company has big dreams for the future and says:

Our vision is to expand our living sphere and create a sustainable world. The moon’s water resources represent untapped potential. Our aspiration is to explore and develop these water resources and spearhead a space-based economy. Water can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to produce fuel, so we are mapping lunar resources to accelerate the pace of space development. Imagine the moon supporting construction, energy, steel procurement, communications, transportation, agriculture, medicine and tourism … We believe that by 2040 the moon will support a population of 1,000, with 10,000 people visiting every year. ispace will be instrumental in supporting life on Earth through space-based infrastructure.

But first, they have to make a successful landing.

Bottom line: Watch the Japanese company ispace attempt a moon landing on June 5, 2025. The lander includes a mini rover.