A laser navigation issue caused Japanese company ispace’s lunar lander, Resilience, to crash into the moon earlier this month, marking their second failed landing attempt in two years.

The lander was descending rapidly when its laser range finder failed to properly measure distance, leading to the crash near the moon’s Mare Frigoris.

Despite past setbacks, including a 2023 crash due to bad software, ispace plans a third lunar landing attempt in 2027 with NASA’s cooperation, investing over $10 million in improvements, the Associated Press has reported.

CEO Takeshi Hakamada affirmed the company’s commitment to learning from failures and moving forward with future missions.

Written by B.C. Begley