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Why It Matters: Learning and improving.
The recent crash of a Japanese moon lander showed that software errors can be more easily resolved than hardware issues. During the descent, the software guiding the lander appeared to lose track of the craft’s altitude when it crossed over a crater rim on the moon’s surface that was about two miles higher than the surrounding terrain. However, the hardware, including the engine and altimeter, functioned properly, indicating that the spacecraft design was sound. The challenge, therefore, was to improve the software to avoid a similar error in future missions.
During a news conference on Friday, Ryo Ujiie, the chief technology officer of Ispace, the Japanese space exploration company, assured observers that there was no need to modify the hardware, and the company’s next two missions would go ahead largely as planned.
However, the crash highlighted the importance of rigorous testing of spacecraft software, and the decision to change the landing site after the design of the spacecraft had been finalized may have contributed to the error.
Ispace had originally chosen a flat site as the landing site but later decided on a more interesting destination that included an impact crater, meaning the landing software was not designed to handle the change in altitude as the spacecraft passed over the crater rim, and simulations failed to catch the oversight.
On Tuesday, NASA released images that appeared to show the site of the crash. Other space missions are scheduled to launch later this year, including several that will be carrying scientific instruments to the moon as part of a NASA program that is hiring private companies.
Background: Challenges of Lunar Landings.
Attempts to return to the moon have been fraught with difficulty in recent years. The Israeli Beresheet lander crashed during an attempted landing in 2019, as did the Vikram craft launched by the Indian Space Research Organization that same year. Only China has recently managed to land robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon.
What’s Next: Keep Trying.
Despite the setback, Takeshi Hakamada, the founder and CEO of Ispace, indicated that the company would move forward with its plans to launch another, nearly identical, lander next year, and a larger spacecraft to the far side of the moon in 2025. The crash did not have a major financial impact on the company, as they had insured the lander. The Indian space agency also announced plans for another moon landing mission this year.
