Oh dear. Japanese moon landing fails

From here:

Japanese firm’s pioneering moon landing fails | The moon | The Guardian

“A Japanese startup attempting the first private landing on the moon has lost communication with its spacecraft and said that it assumes the lunar mission had failed.

Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the uncrewed Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time, a frustrating end to a mission that began with a launch from the US more than four months ago.

“We have not confirmed communication with the lander,” a company official told reporters about 25 minutes after the expected landing on Wednesday.”

“The lander, standing just over 2 metres (6.5 feet) tall and weighing 340 kg, has been in lunar orbit since last month. Its descent and landing was fully automated and it was supposed to re-establish communication as soon as it touched down.”

The Japanese are the latest to fail – it seems that something is causing a string of failures. What could it be? No 5G towers?

“So far only the US, Russia and China have managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, all through government-sponsored programmes. In April 2019, Israeli organisation SpaceIL watched its lander crash into the moon’s surface.

India also attempted to land a spacecraft on the moon in 2019, but it crashed.

Two US companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are scheduled to attempt moon landings later this year. “We congratulate the ispace inc team on accomplishing a significant number of milestones on their way to today’s landing attempt,” Astrobotic said in a tweet.”

Perhaps there is a parallel with the legend of Robert the Bruce, with the moon landing being the equivalent of the spider.

According to legend, Robert the Bruce fled to an island off the West Coast of Scotland to hide out for the winter. It was there, in a coastal cave that he had a life-changing vision. He saw a spider dangling from a silken thread trying over and over again to weave its web. And each time it fell, it pulled itself up to try once again.

Onwards!

Please upgrade to paid, or donate a coffee (I drink a lot of coffee) - “God Bless You!” if you can’t or don’t want to contribute. Coffee donations here: https://ko-fi.com/peterhalligan  - Buying just one Ko-fi a week  for $3 is 50 bucks more than an annual $100 subscription!