After spending months in space, Japan’s Ispace is on the verge of touchdown on the surface of the Moon on June 5, 2025. Ispace’s resilience lunar lander will land in Mare Frigoris ( Sea of Cold), in the moon’s northern hemisphere, on this Thursday. This is the completion of Mission 2 in the company’s ambitious SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon program after the journey of one million kilometres in deep space. It was launched on January 15, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It completed its long journey with a low-energy transfer orbit.
About Resilience Lander
Resilience is a private space sector of Japan‘ Ispace. It measures 2.3 meters in length and 340 kilograms in weight, carrying a water electrolyser experiment, a deep space radiation monitor and an algae-based food production module. Further, it has a micro rover for in situ resource use demos, highlighting the goal of ispace of allowing sustainable lunar exploration and other commercial activities.
A Bigger Milestone for Japan
The previous lunar lander of ispace launched in 2023 failed, and this is the second lunar lander. If Resilience succeeds on June 5, it will deploy the small rover known as Tenacious and also operate scientific instruments on the surface of lunar. The success is going to be huge if it lands safely, as Japan had just one landing on its books till date, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s SLIM spacecraft landed last year.
Resilience Enters Lunar Orbit After Fuel-Efficient Journey
Resilience took a longer route to the Moon, with a lunar Flyby and other manoeuvres for conserving fuel. Such gravity-assisted moves helped it move into lunar orbit on May 6. A 10-minute engine burn kept the lander in a circular orbit at 100 kilometres altitude.
Engineers Analyse Trajectory Ahead of Landing Attempt
Since its latest manoeuvre, scientists have begun analysing the trajectory of the spacecraft. If adjustments are required, they may perform an orbital trim of the manoeuvre. In the meantime, Resilience caught a photo of the Moon’s surface. It is now orbiting every two hours at 3,600 mph, the lander is preparing for its landing this week.
