What Was Lost in the Hakuto-R Moon Lander Crash

The robotic Mission 1 spacecraft from Ispace most likely crashed as it headed toward the moon's surface on Tuesday. It was a setback for the private Japanese space company as well as a total loss of several valuable payloads for customers that were trying to reach the moon. Two countries -- Japan and the United Arab Emirates -- would lose what would have been their respective countries' first robotic explorer on the lunar service. JAXA, a Japanese space agency, intended to test a two-wheeled transformable lunar robot, a small sphere with cameras for surface observations. The data from the device would have been used to help design a crewed, pressurized rover, which would allow for transportation on the lunar surface during future astronaut mission.