Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

The ispace Resilience lunar lander impact created a dark smudge surrounded by a subtle bright halo. 
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

Japan’s failed ispace Resilience lunar lander crash site has been imaged by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The intended June 5 landing zone was within the center of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold), a volcanic region interspersed with large-scale faults known as wrinkle ridges.

Image credit: ispace

According to Mark Robinson, a lunar scientist for Intuitive Machines, based in Phoenix, Arizona, Mare Frigoris formed over 3.5 billion years ago as massive basalt eruptions flooded low-lying terrain. Later, the wrinkle ridges formed as the crust buckled under the weight of the heavy basalt deposits.  

Glum news. Image credit: ispace/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Lost on landing

Following the ispace HAKUTO-R landing sequence, the Mission Control Center was unable to establish communications with the lander, determining that it was unlikely that communication with the Moon probe would be restored.

Also lost on landing was the Tenacious micro rover. That mini-rover was developed in Luxembourg by ispace EUROPE S.A., the European subsidiary of ispace.

Dark smudge

Image credit: ispaceAccording to Mark Robinson of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

According to Robinson of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Science Operations Center in Phoenix, Arizona: “The dark smudge formed as the vehicle excavated and redistributed shallow regolith (soil); the faint bright halo resulted from low-angle regolith particles scouring the delicate surface.”

Robinson told Inside Outer Space, the crash spot is roughly 1.5 miles (2,400 meters) from the one decimal place pre-landing ispace web page of latitude and longitude. Note that one decimal place equals 19 miles (30 kilometers), he said.

The crashed mission was ispace’s second try at soft-landing on the Moon. The private firm’s first attempt in April 2023 also ended in failure.

For details on the ispace moon mishap, go to “Japan crashes into the Moon, but slower than last time” by Scott Manley. Check out his detailed anatomy of a failure at:

https://youtu.be/d1_wAD717u0?si=CEU6C8-J8sWwejub

Click on image for before and after imagery taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s LROC camera system.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University