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FILE PHOTO: Officials of ispace Inc's HAKUTO-R mission look at live broadcasting of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for ispace at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Tokyo, Japan December 11, 2022. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS Image used for illustrative purpose.
Japanese startup ispace inc said on Friday the cause of its failed Hakuto-R moon landing mission last month was the miscalculation of its altitude, which led to the spacecraft's running out of fuel.
Tokyo-based ispace late last month lost connection with the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander after the spacecraft attempted what would have been the world's first commercial soft-landing on the moon's surface.
The company said in a statement improvements would be made towards its second and third missions, planned in 2024 and 2025. (Reporting by Rocky Swift; Writing by Kantaro Komiya Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
