A private Japanese lunar lander is nearing the moon and preparing to touch down in its far northern region — a relatively unexplored area. The mission includes deploying a small rover.
The lander, developed by Tokyo-based company ispace, is set to attempt the moon landing early Friday Japan time, marking another step in the growing trend of commercial lunar exploration.
The mission, dubbed Resilience, follows ispace's previous attempt two years ago, which ended in a crash. The new lander carries both a shovel-equipped mini rover and an artistic payload — a small red house created by a Swedish artist, intended to be placed on the moon’s surface.
While lunar exploration was once dominated by national space agencies, private companies have increasingly entered the field since 2019, though with mixed success.
Resilience launched in January aboard a SpaceX rocket from Florida, sharing the trip with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which made a successful landing in March — the first private craft to do so. Another U.S. lander, from Intuitive Machines, reached the moon shortly after but toppled over near the south pole and quickly failed.
Resilience is targeting a smoother area in the moon’s northern region called Mare Frigoris (the Sea of Cold), located along the top edge of the moon’s near side. The site was chosen for its relatively flat terrain with few large rocks.
Once safely landed and powered up, the 2.3-meter-tall Resilience lander will release a small European-built rover named Tenacious. Made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, the 5-kilogram rover has four wheels, a high-definition camera for terrain scouting, and a shovel to collect lunar soil samples for NASA. It will move slowly — just a few centimeters per second — and remain close to the lander.
The mission also includes a creative element: Tenacious is carrying a miniature red cottage, complete with white trim and a green door. Called Moonhouse, the structure was designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg to symbolize human presence on the moon.
ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada described this mission as a crucial step toward future endeavors. The company plans to send a larger lander to the moon by 2027 in partnership with NASA, with more missions to follow.
“We’re not trying to dominate the market — we’re working to create one,” said Jeremy Fix, chief engineer at ispace’s U.S. branch, during a recent space industry event. He noted that the company, like others in the sector, must balance ambition with limited funding. Though ispace hasn’t disclosed the cost of this mission, it was reportedly less than its first, which exceeded $100 million.
Two other American companies — Blue Origin (founded by Jeff Bezos) and Astrobotic Technology — are planning lunar landings later this year. Astrobotic’s earlier mission in 2024 failed when its lander missed the moon and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.
Historically, moon landings were the realm of state-run programs. To date, only five nations — the U.S., Russia, China, India, and Japan — have successfully landed robotic missions on the moon. The U.S. remains the only country to have landed humans there, with 12 astronauts walking the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972.
NASA aims to send four astronauts around the moon next year, with a crewed landing to follow sometime after. SpaceX’s Starship is expected to handle the final descent from lunar orbit. Meanwhile, China is planning to land its astronauts on the moon by 2030.