AkaSci 🛰️ @AkaSci@fosstodon.org
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The ispace HAKUTO-R mission 1 crash-landed for a different reason on April 25, 2023.

Around 5 km altitude, the onboard software incorrectly presumed that the radar altimeter was faulty because its reading of 5 km diverged from that of the inertial measurement unit. The spacecraft descended slowly thinking it was near the surface, ran out of fuel and then crashed into the lunar surface at more than 100 meters per second.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuto-R
spacenews.com/software-problem
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Hakuto-R Mission 1 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

AkaSci 🛰️ @AkaSci@fosstodon.org
Public

It sounds strange that ispace had a contract to collect dirt samples from the lunar surface and "deliver" to NASA for $5,000. Of course, the samples would remain on the moon.

Other lunar landing missions have similar contracts. Colorado-based Lunar Outpost has a contract for just $1.

According to NASA, these token contracts are intended to "establish precedents for ownership and use of space resources in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty."

spacenews.com/nasa-selects-fou
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NASA selects four companies for lunar sample purchases

NASA has made awards to four companies worth exactly $25,001 to obtain lunar samples, part of an effort to establish a space resources precedent.

spacenews.com · SpaceNews

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