Japanese Moon Landing Attempt Falls Short as Spacecraft Goes Silent

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April 27, 2023

This week, we’re mourning yet another failed moon lander. Our top story covers the latest in a disconcerting string of unsuccessful attempts to send a spacecraft to the lunar surface. This time the unlucky hopefuls were the scientists and engineers of ispace, a Japan-based company whose HAKUTO-R lander was meant to make moonfall in Atlas Crater on Tuesday. Instead, similar to other recent failed landers, contact with HAKUTO-R was lost mere moments before touchdown; the spacecraft is presumed to have run out of fuel during its descent, leading to an irrecoverable crash. Better luck may be in store—ispace already has two more landers in the works that they say will benefit from knowledge gained during this initial setback. Elsewhere this week, we have stories about a spate of spectacular auroral displays, the family history of our sun, “strange matter” inside atoms, the wild possibilities of time travel, and more. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics

Space Exploration Japanese Moon Landing Attempt Falls Short as Spacecraft Goes Silent With an apparent crash, the HAKUTO-R mission from the private space exploration company ispace has joined a long list of failed moon landers By Meghan Bartels

Weather Northern Lights Dance across U.S. because of 'Stealthy' Sun Eruptions A severe geomagnetic storm created auroras that were visible as far south as Arizona in the U.S. By Allison Parshall

Astronomy Our Sun Was Born in a Stellar Family Far, Far from Here We only have a few clues about where the sun was born. Some new ones point to a crowded origin story for our nearest star By Phil Plait

Particle Physics Physicists See 'Strange Matter' Form inside Atomic Nuclei New research attempts to discern how bizarre particles of strange matter form in the nuclei of atoms By Stephanie Pappas

Astrophysics Is Time Travel Possible? The laws of physics allow time travel. So why haven’t people become chronological hoppers? By Sarah Scoles

History Who Invented the Measurement of Time? The first timekeeping devices were probably natural materials lost to the ages, but the ancient Egyptians were the first to leave records of their timekeeping methods By Stephanie Pappas

Space Exploration SpaceX's Starship Fails Upward in Milestone Test Starship, a super powerful launch system that could revolutionize access to space, soared for mere minutes—but its test flight is still being hailed as a success By Meghan Bartels

Quantum Physics Quantum Physics Falls Apart without Imaginary Numbers Imaginary numbers—the square roots of negative numbers—are an inescapable part of quantum theory, a study shows By Marc-Olivier Renou,Antonio Acín,Miguel Navascués

Planetary Science Jupiter's Hot Youth May Have Melted Its Icy Moons The gas giant planet’s youthful glow could explain major differences between its four largest satellites By Nola Taylor Tillman

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Volume 328, Issue 5

QUOTE OF THE DAY "We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface." Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace, the private space-exploration firm whose HAKUTO-R spacecraft apparently crashed into the moon during a recent landing attempt

FROM THE ARCHIVE A New Private Moon Race Kicks Off Soon Commercial spacecraft are vying to land on the lunar surface, but can they jump-start a new space economy? By Rebecca Boyle | August 2022

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