Moon Landing Attempt Falters for Japanese Startup Once More
** entitled "Lunar Ambitions Crashed Again: ispace's Second Moon Landing Fails"
Get ready for a dose of cosmic disappointment, homies! Japanese startup ispace Inc. has announced that their latest lunar lander has croaked like a roast marshmallow on a fiery inferno. Instead of grinning at the moon, the team is left in a dark funk because communication with the lander was smashed to smithereens right before touchdown, which suggests a face-first collision with the lunar surface.
According to ispace, the downpour started when the lander initiated reverse thrust for a soft landing, but bungled the job because it couldn't slow its roll due to a hang-up in measuring the distance to the moon's surface. Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace, admitted at a Tokyo press conference that "it's likely the lander smashed into the lunar surface."
This second-chance lunar lander wasn't merely a dreamy leap for Japanese tech, downtown. The vehicle launched on January 15th, 2023, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket built by American spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX. ispace aimed to secure the title as the first private Asian outfit to score a lunar landing, but their first attempt to smash the moon's glass ceiling cratered into disappointment in December 2022.
If this mission had hit the bullseye, ispace intended to swipe some moon sand for a worldwide first: a commercial transaction of lunar samples, in which they'd transfer ownership to NASA for a fee. Unfortunately, the moon won this round, and now all we get is a bitter aftertaste.
By the way, some other interesting news bits to chew on:
- Thailand's military has taken control of border checkpoints with Cambodia due to escalating tensions.
- Gold, Bitcoin, and other safe-haven assets are soaring to new heights thanks to fears of increased tariffs.
- Over 400 protests against Cambodian border violations have been filed by the Thai military.
- A resident found a cool 12 million baht ($366,000 USD) in trash at a condo and claims he's been hording it since 2020.
- The Army Chief has authorized measures to close borders in response to Cambodian incursions.
- Despite the setback in the lunar mission, ispace's ambitions extend beyond earthly boundaries, as they continue to explore possibilities in international business partnerships and the commercialization of space-and-astronomy technology.
- Meanwhile, the international sphere is witnessing unprecedented events, such as the escalating tensions at the Cambodian border, the surge in demand for safe-haven assets like gold and Bitcoin, and the ongoing protests against Cambodian border violations, highlighting the complex dynamics at play in the global arena.
