A private lunar lander from Japan has crashed into the moon. The Tokyo-based company ispace declared the mission a failure several hours after communication was lost with the lander on Friday.

An attempt to become the third successful private landing on the moon has ended in failure, as ispace's Resilience probe crashed due to a malfunctioning laser sensor

Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the lunar surface during its touchdown attempt on Friday, marking another failure two years after an unsuccessful inaugural mission.