Success would have been a welcome change from recent setbacks Japan has faced in space technology,where it aims to build a domestic industry,including a goal of sending its astronauts to the moon by the late 2020s.
But a lunar landing would bean ambitious feat for a private firm. Only the United States,the former Soviet Union and China have soft-landed spacecraft on the moon,with attempts in recent years by India and a private Israeli company ending in failure.
The Japanese firm “determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing”.
In disclosure to the Tokyo Stock Exchange,ispace said it did not expect an immediate impact on its earnings forecast. The startup delivers payloads such as rovers to the moon and sells related data. It does not expect to book any profit until around 2025.
Four months after launching from Cape Canaveral,Florida,on a SpaceX rocket in December,the M1 lander appeared set to autonomously touch down about 2.40am AEST on Wednesday after coming as close as 90 metres from the lunar surface,a live animation of the lander’s telemetry showed.