A private lunar lander from Japan, operated by the Tokyo-based company ispace, is approaching the moon with the aim of landing in the unexplored far northern region. The mission, scheduled for Friday Japan time, represents the latest endeavor in the rapidly growing commercial lunar exploration sector.

This moon landing attempt follows a two-year gap since ispace's first moonshot, which tragically ended in a crash landing. This led to the naming of its successor lander, Resilience. The Resilience lander carries a mini rover designed to gather samples of lunar dirt, as well as a unique artistic installation—a small red house crafted by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, which will be placed on the moon's surface.

The commercial interest in lunar exploration has expanded significantly since 2019, though many missions have experienced setbacks. Resilience was launched in January from Florida, embarking on a long, indirect journey to lunar orbit. Last month, it achieved lunar orbit, sharing a ride with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which had the distinction of being the first private entity to land on the moon successfully in March.

Shortly after, another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, also reached the moon. However, its lander met with disaster, crashing into a crater near the lunar south pole and leading to the loss of the mission. In contrast, ispace’s Resilience targets the northern part of the moon, particularly the Mare Frigoris, or Sea of Cold. This area was selected for its relatively flat terrain, characterized by fewer obstacles like boulders, making it a more favorable landing site.

Once Resilience stabilizes itself and establishes power and communication with its systems, it will lower its accompanying rover, named Tenacious, onto the lunar surface. This European-built rover is crafted from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and is equipped with four wheels. It features a high-definition camera to explore the surroundings and a shovel designed to collect lunar soil samples for NASA.

Weighing only 11 pounds (5 kilograms), the Tenacious rover will remain close to the lander, exploring the vicinity at a slow pace of less than an inch (approximately a couple of centimeters) per second. In addition to its scientific and technological objectives, the rover carries an artistic touch—a tiny, traditional Swedish red cottage known as the Moonhouse, intended for placement on the lunar surface.

Takeshi Hakamada, the CEO and founder of ispace, describes this moonshot as merely a stepping stone, with plans for a significantly larger lander set to launch by 2027, featuring collaboration with NASA and even more ambitious projects to follow. Jeremy Fix, the chief engineer of ispace’s U.S. subsidiary, emphasized that the company is not merely aiming to dominate the market; instead, they aspire to cultivate it, highlighting the substantial potential of lunar exploration.

While ispace is optimistic about its prospects, Fix acknowledged that the company, like others, operates with limited financial resources and cannot sustain repeated failures. Although the cost of the current mission has not been disclosed, officials indicated that it is less than the previous mission, which topped $100 million.

Two additional U.S. companies, Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology, are also targeting lunar landings by the end of the year. Astrobotic’s maiden lunar lander failed to reach the moon in 2024, instead crashing back to Earth. Historically, the moon has been the focus of governmental efforts, with only five countries achieving successful robotic lunar landings: Russia, the United States, China, India, and Japan. Among these, only the United States has successfully sent humans to the moon, with 12 NASA astronauts landing there from 1969 to 1972.

Looking ahead, NASA plans to send four astronauts on an orbital mission around the moon next year. This will be followed by the first crewed lunar landing in more than 50 years, utilizing SpaceX's Starship for the descent from lunar orbit to the surface. Additionally, China has announced aspirations to land its own astronauts on the moon by 2030.