Ispace, the Japanese company that built Hakuto-R Mission 1, which carried Rashid Rover said it has lost contact with the spacecraft.

Hakuto-R Mission 1, a Japanese spacecraft with the Rashid Rover and other international payloads stored inside it, was expected to make a lunar landing at 8.40 p.m. GST, after a voyage to the Moon of almost five months.  

"At this moment, we have not been able to confirm successful landing on the lunar surface, Ispace," CEO Takeshi Hakamada said. 

"Our engineers and mission control centre continue to investigate the current status of the lander," he added. 

"We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface."

(Writing by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)

(seban.scaria@lseg.com)