NASA has captured images of Japan’s failed lunar lander “Resilience,” which crashed into the moon earlier this month. The spacecraft was carrying a range of scientific experiments and Europe’s first-ever lunar rover when it lost contact with mission control 100 seconds before landing.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) snapped the first satellite photos of the wreckage on June 11, showing a dark smudge on the lunar surface that was likely caused by debris from the impact. ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter then captured additional images in greater detail, revealing pieces of debris scattered around the crash site.
The Japanese company ispace has confirmed that the laser rangefinder experienced delays during the landing process, leading to a “hard landing” that tore apart the spacecraft and destroyed its payloads. This incident is the second failure for ispace’s Hakuto-R landers, following a similar incident in April 2023.
Despite this setback, other lunar lander missions have been successful. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring the moon closely, capturing images of recent landings and analyzing data from spacecraft like China’s Chang’e 6, which successfully touched down on the moon’s far side in June 2024 and returned lunar samples to Earth.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/nasa-spots-japans-doomed-resilience-moon-lander-from-orbit-and-its-surrounded-by-far-flung-debris