Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Despite its lander lying as rubble on the surface of the Moon, Tokyo-based startup ispace still presented its historic project to the public as a success.
Late last month, the lander Hakuto-R proved unable to control its descent to the surface of the Moon, denying, at least for now, the Japanese company a place in the record books for the achievement of the first successful Moon landing by a private company.
Nevertheless, the public reaction of the firm was quite upbeat, even to the point of making the mission sound like a victory.
“This is a great leap forward to future lunar exploration and an important milestone to advance space development by the private sector toward the next level, not only in Japan but also the world,” the official announcement proclaimed.
ispace insisted that the Hakuto-R Mission 1 had gathered valuable data and know-how which will allow future missions to achieve their goals.
The positive spin came from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and some other industry observers as well. They also asserted that the mission was a step forward for international space exploration.
Over the next two years, ispace plans to make further attempts at Moon landings.
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