Morphit

Yeah. Given that they kept the engine running at idle for a while, I was half expecting to see a trail. I’d like to know the dynamics of the touchdown. I’m sure they’ll figure out most of it but they probably prioritised payload data over images of the touchdown.

Commiserations to IM. Really unlucky to fix issues from their first mission then end up with the same, if not a worse, result.

Spirit and Opportunity used the airbag landing system. The sides of the tetrahedron could open with enough force to right the platform no matter the orientation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover#Airbags

Doing that on the moon wouldn’t be very mass efficient. It’d need a skycrane part outside the airbags. Much more efficient to land the right way up.

Here’s hoping ispace can land Hakuto-R number 2 in June without incident. 🤞

The money shot:

Their update states that their batteries are depleted, they don’t expect them to recharge and that the mission is now over.