“Ispace Lunar Lander Crash Reveals Importance of Software Testing and Development”

Why it’s important: Learn and improve.

A review of the data showed that the software directing the descent appeared to have lost track of the lander’s altitude as it passed over the rim of a crater on the lunar surface that is about two miles high from the surrounding terrain.

The software mistakenly concludes that the sensor is malfunctioning and rejects a height measurement that is actually correct.

The engines, altimeter and other devices functioned properly, indicating that the spacecraft’s overall design was intact. Software repairs are easier to complete than major hardware repairs.

“This is not a hardware failure,” said Rio Ojii, Ispace’s chief technology officer, in a press conference on Friday. ‘We don’t need to modify the hardware side of things.’

However, the failure revealed flaws in the Ispace test of the spacecraft landing program, which is being developed by the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The decision to change the landing site, after the spacecraft design was finalized in early 2021, likely contributed to the crash.

Initially, Ispace officials chose Lacus Somniorum, a flat plain, as the landing site. But then they decided that Atlas, an ancient crater more than 50 miles wide, would be a more interesting destination.

This means that the lander wasn’t designed to handle the change in altitude as the spacecraft passed over the crater rim, and the simulation didn’t fare well.

Tuesday, NASA released the photos It was picked up by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which showed up to pinpoint the crash site.

Background: The Bumpy Road to the Moon.

A number of private companies, organizations and government space agencies have attempted to return to the moon in recent years. But landing on the moon turned out to be more difficult than many people thought.

The Beresheet lander, from an Israeli nonprofit called SpaceIL, was launched to the Moon in 2019, but crashed. The Indian Space Research Organization also attempted to land a spacecraft on the Moon that same year, and that vehicle, the Vikram, also crashed.

Only China has landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon recently, with three successes in three attempts over the past decade.

What’s next: try, try again.

Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace, said the timetable for the company’s next two missions — which include a nearly identical lander next year and a larger spacecraft in 2025 to the far side of the moon — remains largely unchanged.

“We have a very clear picture of how we can improve our future mission,” said Mr. Hakamada.

Hakamada said Ispace has taken out insurance for the lander, and the financial implications for the company would be minimal.

More spacecraft are scheduled to launch to the moon later this year. As part of NASA’s program of hiring private companies to fly scientific instruments to the Moon, Astrobotics Technology of Pittsburgh and Houston Instruments of Houston are scheduled to send a spacecraft to the Moon later this year.

Indian Space Agency too announced this week Chandrayaan-3, the follow-up to the 2019 moon landing attempt, could be launched on July 12.