A private Japanese lunar lander is now orbiting the moon, gearing up for a historic touchdown in June. Tokyo-based company ispace announced on Wednesday that its Resilience lander has successfully entered lunar orbit.
“The countdown to lunar landing has now officially begun,” ispace declared in a statement, marking a significant milestone in private space exploration.
Launched in January aboard a SpaceX rocket, Resilience is set to attempt a lunar landing in the first week of June. If successful, it will be a monumental achievement for ispace, especially after the company’s first lander crashed into the moon in 2023.
Resilience carries a mini rover equipped with a scoop to collect lunar soil for analysis, along with other scientific experiments aimed at advancing our understanding of the moon’s surface.
Other private companies have recently made strides in lunar exploration. In March, U.S.-based Firefly Aerospace became the first private entity to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or tipping over. Shortly after, another American company, Intuitive Machines, landed a spacecraft that ended up sideways in a crater.
As Resilience prepares for its landing attempt, the world watches with anticipation, eager to see private companies pushing the boundaries of space exploration.
