Private Japanese lunar lander heads toward a touchdown in the moon’s far north

Japan's lunar lander set to touch down

(UPDATE) A PRIVATE lunar lander from Japan is closing in on the moon, aiming for a touchdown in the unexplored far north with a mini rover. The moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace on Friday Japan time is the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush. The encore comes two years after the company's first moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander. Resilience holds…

A cosy little house heads to the Moon

Fancy watching a house land on the Moon? Here’s why everyone’s talking about it. If you thought the Moon was just rocks and craters, think again. Tonight, for the first time ever, a tiny house, and yes, it’s a real, actual house, is about to make itself at home on the lunar surface. It’s not your usual bricks-and-mortar job, of course. This one’s more of a miniature marvel: a quirky little… Source

Private Japanese lunar lander heads toward a touchdown in the moon’s far north

A private lunar lander from Japan descended toward a touchdown on the moon Friday, but its fate was unknown as flight controllers scrambled to figure out what had happened. The moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace was the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush. The company’s landing webcast cut to prerecorded video as flight controllers clustered in front of computer screens, staring silently. Ten minutes after…

Japanese startup attempts historic moon landing

The touchdown on the moon is expected at 4:17am Japanese time on Friday (9.17pm CAT Thursday) and will be streamed on the firm's website.

Japanese startup to attempt moon landing

A Japanese startup will attempt a tricky lunar touchdown on Friday with an unmanned lander named Resilience, two years after its first try which crashed onto the moon’s surface. If successful, it will be only the third private mission to the Earth’s rocky natural satellite ever completed, and the first by a company based outside of the United States. The startup, ispace, says touchdown is expected at 4:17am Japan time on Friday (1917 GMT on Thur…

Japanese startup attempts Moon landing

A Japanese startup will attempt a tricky lunar touchdown on Friday with an unmanned lander named Resilience, two years after its first try which crashed onto the Moon's surface.