Moon landing attempt: World’s first commercial lunar lander presumed lost

to The Independent’s live coverage of the Hakuto-R Mission 1, which will see the Japanese startup ispace attempt to be the world’s first private company to land a spacecraft safely on the Moon.

We’ll have all the latest updates from the Hakuto-R Mission 1 right here, with a live stream broadcast from 4pm BST.

All being well, the touch down will take place just over an hour and a half later. Otherwise backup dates are available if the operational status is unfavourable, with the earliest set for tomorrow.

The Hakuro-R Mission 1 landing sequence has been shared by ispace.

It involves an engine thrust against its orbital direction in order to slow it down, before a short pitch-up maneuver to adjust its altitude.

The spacecraft will then perform a vertical descent to the surface of the Moon. The whole process should take approximately one hour.

Here’s how ispace officials describe the landing sequence: “The lander will perform a braking burn, firing its main propulsion system to decelerate from orbit. Utilizing a series of pre-set commands, the lander will adjust its attitude and reduce velocity in order to make a soft landing on the lunar surface.”

With ispace’s lunar lander still in orbit, the startup has shared two photos taken from its onboard camera at an altitude of around 100km.

The first shows the lunar surface taken on 15 April, while the second shows a lunar earthrise during a solar eclipse. The incredible photo shows the Moon’s shadow on the Earth’s southern hemisphere on 20 April.

“The Moon hung perfectly between the Sun and Earth at this moment, casting a shadow resulting in the solar eclipse visible over Australia,” ispace notes. (You can watch that rare total eclipse right here.)

The Hakuto-R craft is currently orbiting the Moon, but in a few hours it will attempt to touch down on the lunar surface. If successful, it will be the first ever privately-owned spacecraft to achieve the feat. But where exactly is it going to land?

Plan A is to land it in the Altlas Crater, located at the outer edge of Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold, today at 5.40pm BST. If this fails, there are backup dates on 26 April, 1 May and 3 May, which could potentially alter the landing site, depending on the operational status of the spacecraft.

“Careful consideration of the target site criteria included continuous sun-illumination duration and communication visibility from the Earth,” ispace said in its mission brief.

There’s just 100 minutes to go until ispace begins preparations to land.

The whole landing attempt of the Hakuto-R craft will be live streamed on the Japanese firm’s official YouTube channel, which is available just below.

There are already more than 7,000 people waiting to watch this potentially historic moment, which is similar to the level of interest generated by a major SpaceX launch.

Japan’s ispace is not the first privately-funded venture to attempt a moon landing, but if successful it will be the first to achieve it. In 2019, Israel’s SpaceIL crashed its Beresheet lander onto the lunar surface, spilling thousands of hardy tardigrades.

You can read more about that mission here.

We’re still waiting on the live stream from ispace, which was meant to start 15 minutes ago. While we wait, here’s a reminder of what the Japanese company is trying to achieve with this mission.

There are 10 milestones that Mission 1 is attemtping to reach, ranging from the launch that took place last year, to delivering its customers’ payloads to the lunar surface after landing.

We’re currently up to ‘Success 9’ by the firm’s own tally, but arguably number 10 is bigger than all others that have come before it.

Half an hour later than scheduled, ispace has launched its live stream of the final stages of its Hakuto-R Mission 1.

You can watch it here:

We’re around 45 minutes away from the landing attempt. The ispace lander is currently on the other side of the Moon, so we won’t be hearing from it for another 30 minutes.

Until then, we’re hearing from figures from the company and the broader space industry in a mix of live broadcasts and pre-recorded interviews.

Everything is progressing as planned so far, with ispace saying the Hakuto-R Mission 1 is “ready for the landing sequence”.