Japanese Moon Lander Blamed for Private Spacecraft Failure
Japan’s space agency has blamed a private company for the failure of its lunar lander mission. The spacecraft, called the Hayabusa2, was launched in May 2023 on a mission to collect samples from the surface of the moon. Unfortunately, the mission failed due to a problem with the descent engine of the lander.
On Thursday, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that the lander’s descent engine was the cause of the mission failure. JAXA had contracted the lander’s design and construction to a private Japanese company. The agency found that the engine’s exhaust nozzle was too small, causing the descent engine to burn out before the lander could reach the moon’s surface.
The failure of the Hayabusa2 mission is a huge blow to JAXA, and a reminder that even the most advanced technologies can fail. The agency is now working to identify the root cause of the issue and to figure out how to prevent similar problems in the future.
source: Phys.org