SMBC x HAKUTO-R Mission 2 Venture Moon, also known as ispace's Hakuto-R Mission 2, aimed to demonstrate commercial lunar transportation and resource utilization—an important step toward ispace’s long-term vision for a sustainable lunar economy. ispace is a lunar exploration company dedicated to extending human presence in outer space. The company has partnered with NASA and other organizations to explore lunar water resources that could be used for fuel production and space infrastructure development, and its Hakuto-R program is designed to enable frequent lunar transport and exploration missions.

The mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, United States, on January 15, 2025, at 06:11 UTC. The RESILIENCE Lander, optimized for lightweight design, compact size, and reliability, was tailored to achieve the first commercial lunar landing and includes one of the smallest and lightest planetary micro rovers in the world. The lander carried multiple payloads designed to advance lunar exploration and resource utilization. It featured equipment to test water electrolysis for resource extraction, a food production experiment based on algae technology, and a deep-space radiation probe to study lunar radiation exposure and its implications for future missions. In addition, the Tenacious micro rover was aboard to collect lunar regolith and relay data for scientific studies on the Moon’s surface composition and geological history.

After a four-month journey, the Resilience Lander successfully entered lunar orbit on May 7, 2025. The planned touchdown was set for Mare Frigoris—a lunar mare located in the Moon’s northern hemisphere known for its geological stability, making it an ideal site for robotic missions. On June 6, 2025 (JST), the lander’s descent phase began when ispace engineers at the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, transmitted landing commands at 3:13 a.m. JST. The sequence saw the lander descend from roughly 100 km to 20 km in altitude, successfully firing its main engine to decelerate. While initial telemetry confirmed a nearly vertical descent, communication was lost shortly thereafter, and no data indicating a successful landing was received, even after the scheduled touchdown time.

An investigation traced the issue to a delay in the laser rangefinder, which prevented the lander from obtaining accurate distance measurements, causing it to decelerate insufficiently. As a result, the vehicle maintained a higher-than-expected descent velocity and is assumed to have impacted the lunar surface at high speed, rendering further operations unfeasible. Following the loss of telemetry, a command was sent to reboot the lander, but communication could not be re-established. By 8:00 a.m. JST on June 6, 2025, mission controllers determined that restoring communication was unlikely, meaning that completing Success 9—the safe landing objective—was not achievable. The mission had originally outlined 10 objectives, successfully reaching 8 milestones before this setback led to its conclusion.

Just over two years ago, on April 26, 2023, ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 made history by becoming the first attempt by a private company to land on the Moon. Although that mission achieved a number of significant milestones, communication with the lander was lost just before touchdown.