Ispace, a Japanese lunar exploration company, announced on Wednesday that it had lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft, Hakuto-R, during its mission to the moon, suggesting that the mission may have failed. Takeshi Hakamada, the CEO of ispace, stated that they “could not complete the landing on the lunar surface” due to the loss of communication. The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander was supposed to land on the moon at 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday, but shortly before its descent, communication was lost. Ispace reported that the lander may have made a hard landing on the moon’s surface since the propellant had reached a low threshold, and the descent speed had rapidly increased. Despite the setback, the company continues to analyze the telemetry data to determine the cause of the incident and stated that it has acquired valuable data and experience. Mission 1 was Japan’s first lunar landing attempt, and its intended completion would have made ispace the first private company to land on the moon. Though it may not have achieved its goal, ispace remains optimistic and has already begun developing Mission 2 and Mission 3 concurrently. The spacecraft carried seven payloads, including a rover from the United Arab Emirates and Japan’s transformable robot.