A month ago, the private lunar lander “Hakuto-R” crashed during a “hard landing” on the surface of the moon. Recently, the US space agency NASA used images sent to Earth by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which discovered the crash site of Hakuto-R.
The LRO images are dated April 26, 2023, one day after Hakuto-R attempted to land in Atlas Crater. At least four prominent pieces of debris and several minor changes can be seen on the lunar surface at 47,581 degrees north latitude and 44,094 degrees east longitude, according to NASA.
Erroneous altitude calculation responsible for the crash
The cause of the failure of the first private moon landing by the Japanese space company ispace has now become known on Friday. An incorrect height calculation was responsible for this. “The most likely reason for the lander’s incorrect altitude estimate was that the software was not working as expected,” the company announced after reviewing flight data for the “Hakuto-R” mission.
After reaching the scheduled landing time, “Hakuto-R” continued its descent at low speed until the propulsion system ran out of fuel, it said. According to space company ispace, the lander would have fallen on the lunar surface in a free fall. Improvements will now be made for the second and third missions, which are scheduled for 2024 and 2025.
NASA probe has been orbiting the moon since 2009
The LRO was launched on June 18, 2009 along with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) aboard an “Atlas” rocket to map the surface of the moon and detect possible water reserves there.
Source: Krone
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