Japan Lands On The Moon.... Upside Down? Astrobotic's Moon Lander Lands On Earth?

Over the last 24 hours we've had 2 lunar missions finish powered flight, one more successfully than the other.
Firstly, Congratulations to Japan which has managed to soft land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, this makes them the 5th nation to accomplish this feat. However it appears that they did not land on the spacecraft's feet and instead rolled, probably ending up inverted with the solar panels in the wrong orientation. However, the 2 rovers have deployed and we hope to see something from them in the coming days.
Secondly, Astrobotic's Peregrine lander returned to earth and burned up after suffering a propellent leak early in the mission, however the team managed to keep the spacecraft alive and operated a number of the payloads in deep space rather than on the surface of the moon for a few days before the spacecraft returned over the Pacific ocean.
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[@SuperMonkei]

As a KSP player, I know that a 10-degree slope means that you roll for several kilometers if you land on your side.

[@stanislavkos3723]

Or slide for the rest of the mission downwards.

[@NarwahlGaming]

Or, if you land upright and do your Science down hill, your lander will eventually come to you! 😂

[@SuperMonkei]

@@NarwahlGaming You mean you're an asshole, and you beg people to bow to you? Is that about right? Grow up!

[@cmbaz1140]

Yeah ...happened to me recently...

[@TheGreatAtario]

And if the slope is zero degrees, you slide at about one millimeter per second

[@memespeech]

landing it upside down without crashing is pretty impressive

[@तरबुज_खाने_वाला_राक्षस]

​@@rajeshgajwelly9035shut up andhbhakt

[@mrb.5610]

Probably having a human pilot on board helped a bit ....

[@Misack8]

fr

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@rajeshgajwelly9035 still it's hilarious in a way of how it was even possible without it being completely destroyed.

[@Dac85]

@@rajeshgajwelly9035 Easy there, lol. Your first attempt slammed into the surface and experienced RUD. At least Japan is going to get data.

[@brucefelger4015]

When you look at the Apollo missions against what is happening now, it is even more amazing that Apollo missions worked at all.

[@lichtgestalt9540]

but they had massive support from stanley kubrick! 😊

[@BGraves]

all the problems nations are having seem to do with landing. humans apparently can do that far better than programmers and tests... except you know.... the mars landers handled it flawlessly

[@Calatriste54]

This is difficult work at best.

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@BGraves they were built different.

[@XIIchiron78]

The wildest thing about Apollo has to be that the main memory for the guidance computer was sown by hand from iron rings and copper wires, much of this read only. In other words, they literally programmed it one bit at a time, with physical pieces of metal, by threading or skipping little rings. They sent men to the moon with a glorified crochet.

[@vvreddyother]

My respect to ISRO scientists and engineers has doubled since recent NASA and Japanese attempts. Congrats to JAXA and am sure they will make successful landing and exploration soon.

[@narutouzukami5840]

❤❤

[@gtjack9]

Imagine if the Australians had successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon upside down, they’d never hear the end of it.😂

[@exilestudios9546]

They have a shot at that in 2026 since they are launching their own lander as a part of the Artemis program

[@AerialWaviator]

To make it even more fun, many of the spacecraft headed to the moon over the next couple years (related to Artemis) are targeting near the south pole.

[@ErikPelyukhno]

@@AerialWaviator😂

[@rehanphalswal]

​@@AerialWaviatorI think Artemis will he delayed after recent failed attempt by NASA and other private firms.

[@thepunisher2988]

The Australian space program is about 100 years behind everyone else...By the time they land a spacecraft on the moon, other countries would have built a permanent base on the moon and have their astronauts come out to see if the Australian spacecraft landed upside down or sideways.

[@philipkudrna5643]

We can always rely on Scott Manley to bring us the analysis we need. Great job, Scott, as always!

[@meesalikeu]

great job scott! or great scott, job! 😂

[@v2ike6udik]

100% ALL CGI. :D Another absoluetely fake müün länding like nasa and india did? justfacepissing. "Try to mock us and ever scfi autist (90% of the population) will screech at you and you will be eaten alive... while we steal all your money. MUAHAHAMUAAHA. "

[@MadScientist267]

You got a little something on your nose.

[@MadScientist267]

​@RepentandbelieveinJesusChrist5You're missing something between your ears.

[@Zerpentsa6598]

Great apologist for a successful failed mission.

[@plasmaburndeath]

*Note to self always put a couple •OPPS• small solar panels on bottom of any lander (body before the engine) I build.

[@grandunification6226]

Ends up illuminating them with the rocket flames

[@gungagalunga9040]

You are hired. Please contact Japanese NASA.

[@tim_peaky]

@@gungagalunga9040they are called JAXA 😊

[@plasmaburndeath]

@@tim_peaky you could say this is 'Jaxa' what I was going to say.. if I had thought of it first, get it exacta, jaxa.... I'll get me coat.

[@RoudrajitSarkar]

Congratulations Japan 🇯🇵 Love from india 🇮🇳 🇮🇳🤜🤛🇯🇵

[@Middy_37]

As an Australian, I see nothing wrong with this landing. Congrats on Japan for this successful event!!

[@protonprotonfix5749]

Bwahahahaha! 😂

[@tracycapilot2002]

When you come from a land down under then this moon landing WAS perfect!

[@geepea101able]

As an Aussie,I always roll my car over when I park it!

[@Mia3HD]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤭

[@totifernandez9532]

It is a matter of perspective. From down under upside down looks right side up.🤣

[@rafalklepinski7372]

Congratulations to our Japanese friends on this success. Thank you JAXA for sharing telemetry and data with us! Impressive year for lunar landings. Nice to see more and more countries participating in this very difficult endeavor.

[@RyllenKriel]

It's a shame the lander had a rough landing, but engineers should be proud to get there in one piece. Welcome to the Moon Japan!

[@darrenfaulkner2627]

But you think men went there?

[@Jeremy9697]

​@@darrenfaulkner262712 men have been there. This is a rover with automation. Completely different than a pilot helping land

[@Pinnacle_Music]

welcome to the moon! 😂 sure! sure thing

[@frankjames7272]

​@@Pinnacle_Musicdont forget your tinfoil hat.

[@amarsinghhembram4379]

Namaste 🙏 Aapka moon pe swagat hai ❤ Welcome to moon Japan 🎉

[@revolutionaryhamburger]

Congratulations to Japan for again showing us puny humans that spaceflight isn't easy. Without occasional failures it is easy to forget just how amazing an accomplishment is any successful space landing .

[@MetaView7]

even with all the supercomputers and extra sensitive sensors and modern propellents

[@burtlangoustine1]

Congratulations? Out of all the nations on Earth you'd expect they'd use a coloured camera 😆😜

[@anteshell]

@@burtlangoustine1 Why? If we compare black and white sensor to a colour sensor each the same size and pixel count, you can get 3 or 4 times larger resolution image from the BW sensor. There is little value in colour to justify that resolution loss. The loss happens because for each pixel in final image, a colour sensor have to use either 3 or 4 (the amount depends on the type of the sensor) sensor pixel dedicated for each colour. On the other hand, each sensor pixel can be directly translated to the image giving much higher final resolution. To make it even more clear, if you have 2x2 colour sensor, one pixel is dedicated for red, one for blue and usually two are for green. Interpolating those give you one pixel of coloured image. On BW sensor it gives you 2x2, or four pixel image. 400% times the resolution just for omitting the colour, which is usually much more important in this field.

[@auDipquid]

Morbo agrees

[@ccahill2322]

@revolutionaryhamburger, They could coat the "targets" with sponge.

[@PandaLover-cm2zr]

I’m a Japanese kid living in the countryside, so I’m no professor but it’s really nice seeing so many positive comments :) Thank you for cheering us on!! 🎌🎌🇺🇳🇺🇳

[@Zerpentsa6598]

Unit 731 👏👏👏😂

[@OO27]

Don't worry failure is step to success

[@Lemmon714_]

Japan is one of the few sane countries left. It is far superior to most any other one.

[@simonsong1743]

Kid when you grow up pls helps designing an AI as pilot of Lander.

[@SuperMonkei]

Tell them the lag is one second, not millisecond. They can't pilot it from the command room.

[@p1ural391]

Congrats to JAXA and SLIM team! Fun fact, when I was visiting Tanegashima Space Centre in late Sept, they were selling replica LEV-2 as a drone. And yeah, TSC is amazingly beautiful, tropical island and white sands.

[@Mazehimazelo]

Love and support from India 🇮🇳🇮🇳 ❤ I wish their all issues get resolved and mission is 100% completed..

[@lktan224]

Upside down and mission successful 😂

[@witchdoctor6502]

astrobotic's communication was absolutely stellar. Info coming all the time, explanations etc. I really hope their next lander will be success.

[@jeffreyschweitzer8289]

Upside down? Not if you look from the southern hemisphere!

[@BigTylt]

Landing Australian-style

[@Life_42]

Nice perspective!

[@mrknownothing2470]

Actually it will be still upside down even from looking from Australia.

[@josephastier7421]

"Down" is determined by the net gravitational vector at the point of interest, not the position of an observer.

[@jon2026]

Joseph--->🤓

[@johnhammond9962]

It happened to me in the late '70s. Sincerely, anyone who has ever played Lunar Lander

[@xlandros]

My dad bought us kids a used Commodore 64 around 1985. Lunar Lander was one of the few software programs to come with it. That game drove me absolutely crazy!

[@meltysquirrel2919]

To the best of my recollection, *nobody* survived any lunar lander attempt by me! 😂 If it was real the moon would now have many more craters and would be covered in a large amount of debris 😂

[@baomao7243]

Atari is my co-pilot

[@xlandros]

Edit: It was Jupiter Lander for C64, a clone of Lunar Lander....trust me, just as aggravating to play.

[@meltysquirrel2919]

@@xlandros Lots of versions to die in 🫣 in high school I played a version on a friend's Radio Shack pocket computer - and died on that one too 😂

[@gauravmimi]

Congratulations Japan, Kudos for making this great effort. Always heartening to see soeone making such positive attempts. We continue learn, improve and improvise for these experiences.

[@nobleheart2260]

I am Indian American, A Huge Congratulations to our Japanese brothers, just having a soft landing is a huge engineering feat in itself, great job. I hope the lander orientation changes and things work out. Japanese are the most hard working, honest and talented people in the world. Viva Japan 🇯🇵 !!

[@aftereffects00]

Native Indian ?

[@Simon-hb9rf]

am i the only one, probably rather naively, hoping that some Japanese controller manages to hop that little rover over to the probe and give it a few nudges as it tries to right itself. im not sure how the little rolling one could help, but it could offer some morale support at least.

[@KevinVenturePhilippines]

I was thinking the same. As for the ball, it is obviously just going to spin and dig a hole in the regolith anyway, so maybe it could dig under one side of the lander until it flipped, lol.

[@thomaskeenan2208]

Buddy system. Future designs for resiliency. Even better info could help with recovery plans.

[@camicus-3249]

The little rover that could

[@douginorlando6260]

Genius

[@FredStam]

the craft has the size of a car so I don't think the jumper is capable of doing this

[@jamesmoore6424]

When I saw this in the local newspaper, I thought to myself, I don't need to read this as Scot Manley will have it covered. Thank you my faith in you is just and deserved!

[@Simonsays90]

Ok guys, i think we all know what happened. Someone left the SAS locked on retrograde and when the velocity got close to zero the whole thing flipped itself over. Its a mistake we’ve all made. They should just load up their quick save and take another crack at it

[@benjaminhanke79]

I like this comment even if I've never played KSP.

[@Simon-hb9rf]

thats why i always add a self righting mechanism, to account for my terrible piloting skills.

[@meesalikeu]

ok, NERD 😂

[@BishopStars]

Unfortunately they accidentally saved when trying to load, and it got overwritten.

[@Haz0052-tu7rr]

That's happened to me so many times - I keep on burning too early, watch it shoot up, watch it flip over, then wait for it to start falling. Repeat until nearly out of fuel.

[@DSE8991]

Thanks Scott, this video is 10 times more detailed than JAXA's press conference, yet easy enough to understand even I'm Japanese.

[@josephastier7421]

The NASA Mars missions that did the airbag landings had solar panels that were stowed during flight and deployed after landing. Part of the reason for this was that their deployment would also serve to positively right the lander from any position it happened to be in after randomly bouncing along the surface of Mars.

[@v2ike6udik]

100% ALL CGI. :D Another absoluetely fake müün länding like nasa and india did? justfacepissing. "Try to mock us and ever scfi autist (90% of the population) will screech at you and you will be eaten alive... while we steal all your money. MUAHAHAMUAAHA. "

[@travcollier]

Pathfinder I'm honestly surprised that hasn't been tried on the Moon, since the low gravity. Could bounce/roll for quite a while though

[@bennyb6071]

That was fake

[@josephastier7421]

@@bennyb6071 Even the part where it sent back data?

[@jessiejanson1528]

Gravity on the moon and Mars is about the same, only real difference is one has atmosphere.

[@bigratkiller1]

Now admittedly i'm not a qualified upanddownologist but i'm going to go out on a limb here and say landing upside down is off nominal

[@MattyEngland]

In this day and age, who's to say what landing orientation is normal? 😂 Maybe the lander identifies as transdirectional? 😉

[@dr4d1s]

That is because it didn't land upside down.. In the first 30 seconds of this very video, Scott said that it landed and then either tipped or rolled over...

[@Simon-hb9rf]

i disagree i do it in KSP all the time lol, thats why i always add a robot wars style self righting ram, i may be a crap pilot but the engineer in me cancels it out.

[@danhammond8406]

They screwed up when they used metric. Only real measurement units work there

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

As an Aussie it seems like a perfect landing to me 😁

[@1kreature]

Most important question: Did Astrobotics observe the mystery goo before leaving the moons sphere of influence?

[@chibidoragon]

What, is Pocari sweat mystery goo? That would actually explain a lot.

[@Mozart1220]

This is a science page, not Pornhub. Keep your "mystery goo" to yourself.

[@freeculture]

@@chibidoragon Actually yes. Nothing attracts more to drink something that is called "sweat". Only in Japan...

[@Thisandthat8908]

some people fantasize about colonies on Mars. It's so easy to forget how incredibly difficult it still is to even land on the Moon.

[@MattyEngland]

We need to take inspiration from the boomers... More tinfoil and LSD is the way to do it.

[@shanent5793]

At least mars has some atmosphere, parachutes work and in principle you can land like a helicopter

[@muzzyali8011]

Elon big ego Musk should focus on building tourism/industries on the moon instead of thinking he can terraform Mars. His fans are also deluded and gullible for thinking he and SpaceX have a chance.

[@backpackpepelon3867]

Only China and US have shots on making mars colony for now. The way how tech progress between the 2 great empire, I think China will be there first.

[@oystercatcher943]

Those hopping and rolling rovers are awesome, like remember Terrahawks on UK TV? Bit like thunderbirds. Scott will no doubt

[@jamesrussell7760]

Scott, I completely agree that JAXA's Moon lander was a very impressive accomplishment. My only concern was why the landing legs were 90⁰ from the landing rocket. There must have been a reason for that design, but offhand it seems to violate the KISS principle.

[@mistertagnan]

Basically just so it wouldn’t tip over on a slope. The spacecraft is longer than it is wide, so to get a wider base they put the legs on the side. In addition, this means that they don’t need much taller landing legs to avoid the engines making contact with the surface - which would further increase the chances that it tips over. Unfortunately for JAXA it seems one of the engines died so (IIRC) the spacecraft didn’t attempt the pitchover

[@janmelantu7490]

Landing on the moon upside down is perhaps the goofiest way a mission could happen

[@coreytaylor5386]

I dont know, thats how 90% of my kerbal landings go

[@jsalsman]

Just a slope...

[@meesalikeu]

thank you nikki minaj

[@Relkond]

@@coreytaylor5386I’ll land sideways a fair bit. Never managed upside-down - I think that takes real talent.

[@nmccw3245]

It’s an embarrassing success 👍🏻😁

[@BMrider75]

Thanks Scott, great assessments. Appreciated

[@andysPARK]

Ohh, planning that landed orientation but not building in a mechanism for self correcting seems unwise. But great attempt. Lessons learned are valuable :)

[@OfentseMwaseFilms]

They didn’t design legs/arms to help it get up?

[@michaelpettersson4919]

I suppose that it wasn't worth the weight for an unlikely possibility. Well peope DO win at the lottery unlikely as that is.

[@ronschlorff7089]

yes, "widely spread legs" would help a lot. You'd think that very cute chick CEO of that toy company which designed the thing would know that, ...instinctively!! LOL ;D

[@paultweedlie3697]

Maybe the engineers failed to consider landing on uneven ground. Or maybe it's fake/pretend

[@jimmyzhao2673]

Omigosh those rovers. We need a video just on those !

[@sander915]

thanks scott! amazing as always!

[@zapfanzapfan]

Ah, I was waiting for your analysis! Thank you!

[@pabcu2507]

But hey, it still landed!

[@dx-ek4vr]

All without making a new crater, too!

[@mingouczjcz3800]

Yes, you know Japanese tricks well

[@NarwahlGaming]

And no F9s! That we know of... 😂

[@HeroMy256]

Japanies, Wonderful achievement of soft landing. With angle rotation or hopping or sync mech or deep signaling will hopefully bring back to normal position with solar panels point to sun. Congratulations on great achievement. Love from Bharat!

[@A.V.VINOD.]

❤ from India...India failed at maiden attempt to land on moon's southpole (Chadrayaan-I), later India succeed at second attempt(Chandrayaan-II)... learned new lessons from first failure...keep trying and succeed...

[@artistjoh]

I can't wait for the Australian Lunar rover expected to land in 2026 and named Roo-ver. It is part of Artemis and tasked with collecting regolith and attempting to extract oxygen for both human breathing, and making rocket fuel. A very ambitious mission, and the Japan mission demonstrates that even basics like landing can be very difficult to achieve. It is, however, wonderful to see various new nations getting into the Moon exploration effort.

[@KevinVenturePhilippines]

If it is anything like your outback campers, at least we know it will be built tough!

[@zimriel]

@@KevinVenturePhilippines and built to work upside down

[@walkingwiki2682]

@@zimriel LOL

[@Pinnacle_Music]

it’s just another space agency fantasy 😂 don’t get your hopes up any longer man, not 1 boot has ever pressed onto the Moon’s surface.

[@artistjoh]

A conspiracy theory denier of reality just entered the comment section. Ignore him/her/it as they thrive on argument.

[@Andrew-vj2ep]

yes, the telemetry visualization was really good in the live stream

[@LordDeBahs]

???

[@T_Mo271]

JAXA did a top-notch job on that telemetry display.

[@Vegetasinghyadav]

Congratulations to japan from india 🇮🇳♥️🇯🇵. Scot has explained us whatever was there to understand. I wish great success to japan in space 🚀 exploration.

[@jorgesolis7891]

Big super c ongratulations to Japan well done... 👏 🎉

[@paulhaynes8045]

Speaking as someone old enough to remember the very first lunar 'landers', it's utterly weird to see this now being done at almost the hobby level!

[@skullsparkjoker9942]

Agree did a couple of drunk art students design this thing?

[@markomanenica9860]

Same students also did the CGI of the landing

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

Scott Manley is the Priest of Hobby Space Efforts.

[@nathanaelvetters2684]

The spherical rover was built by a toy company that makes transformers.

[@rickmarkgraf2617]

Hobby level today, maybe, but hobby level in the 60s used Erector sets and crystal radios

[@cybershark3095]

Knowing the exact orientation on the surface, could they do a short RCS burn on a specific thruster to try and flip it upright?

[@lexpox329]

Wondering the same thing.

[@m_chupon5131]

That'd be my first instinct if this was Kerbal

[@Android811]

That has never worked for me in KSP. RCS is never strong enough to stand you back up, even on minmus!

[@pm4306]

congratulation to Japan....quite an achievement...those rover designs are just fantastic!!

[@kend6693]

that's weird they couldn't even copy what we did 50 years ago!!!!! Ya big congratulations.

[@rhetz1562]

The ball one is kinda cute

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

If there's one thing I've learned from years of watching Battlebots, it's that you can't have a robot without a self righting mechanism.

[@narendraraje596]

Reaching on the moon is creditable. Please do not lose hope. Please keep it up Japan.... I love you ..... 😊 Love from India.....

[@weschilton]

So would it be possible to gently fire the reaction control thrusters to flip it back upright?

[@trattoretrattore8228]

A rover that jumps, a rover that rolls and a spacecraft that (should) turn on it's side just before touchdown is so very kerbal.

[@PatrickKQ4HBD]

First, congratulations are due to JAXA and the people of Japan. You did it! 🎉 Here's what I think went wrong, and it has more to do with the basic design than the landing plan. I think the lander's CoM is too close to its physical center. They designed it to be too compact and fit in the ride share, more than designing it to spread out wide and reliably land on one side. It should resemble a flat Starlink satellite and land with a bit of sideways drift in the direction of the feet IOT reliably tip that way. Didn't they drop models in a sand pit a few dozen times before launch??

[@DrewNorthup]

They would have needed a drop pit in a vacuum, which most people don't have in their back pocket...not to mention most universities & militaries. Also keep in mind that the CoM will shift over time as the fuel & oxidizer are consumed and will shift chaotically with movement (which normal humans call "sloshing about"). Presuming they used solid-state gyros & accelerometers (I agree with Scott on the likelihood of it) they'd need periodic drift corrections. I suspect they weren't nulling rates for long enough, or passing their raw data through a good enough filter, during those drift corrections-which would likely have coincided with their decent "pauses". As such pauses are "power-on hold" maneuvers using rockets they will never be without significant vibration of a magnitude much larger than that of quadcopter despite using the same rate-nulling strategy. Also, congrats on the Ham ticket, DE N1XIM AR K

[@AerialWaviator]

A primary mission goal was to land within

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

@@DrewNorthup "They would have needed a drop pit in a vacuum" Is it free-falling from a significant height on the Moon? I don't see a say 1-2 m/s touchdown speed introducing any significant aero effects for Earth drop testing, given the ballistic coefficient of the lander. Their Hayabusa 2 asteroid landing, with gravity almost nonexistent, would have presumably been far more challenging in terms of Earth testing vs target environment conditions. That included as well a complex series of on-station navigation and maneuvering over both long and short time periods, so I would imagine they have the finer points of filtering etc figured out. OTOH, it might have been a mostly different team than Hayabusa 2's from over a decade ago. Or simply bad luck with a component failure. Time will hopefully tell.

[@Haz0052-tu7rr]

@@marcmcreynolds2827 I assume the RCS thrusters used to orient itself wouldn't have worked in an atmosphere.

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

@@Haz0052-tu7rr Backing up the subject a bit first, I was taking "drop testing" to mean simulation of a 1/6 gee freefall from presumably not very much height. Others might be thinking in terms of some part of the terminal phase with control active, but I was just talking about how it power-off "bounces" at the very end -- something the control system might not have handled well. Interesting point about the thrusters. I've never worked with an RCS, but from basic physics I assume for all things being equal except atmosphere you would increase supply pressure to make up for the reduced pressure differential between chamber and ambient thanks to the presence of an atmosphere (or add temporary nozzle extensions, or whatever else to get the same thrust as would have been the case in a vacuum). Reduced gravity would likely be the harder thing to allow for in an Earth-based simulation. Canceling out 5/6th of the weight is easy enough, but then rotational/translational freedom is compromised.

[@antonnym214]

nice analysis, sir! All good wishes.

[@crispen-cl8gq]

Good reporting. Straight forward.

[@Shupavin]

I have been testing a ball similar to that rover for the past year. As long as it doesn't come across cats or carpets on the moon it will work perfectly!

[@robertanderson5092]

Lunar kittens are the worst

[@averteddisasterbarely2339]

Cats like the moon because of the cheese !

[@Sonnell]

But whyyy overcomplicate things that much? If you are trying to land the first time on the moon, why would you not choose the safest more secure way to land, to power your lander??? Why do people make things a lot harder for themselves?

[@KevinS-vc6zc]

Yeah that's what I wanna say. I watched the press conference and they just making excuses

[@muzzyali8011]

the whole point was to get a lander to land exactly where they want ie Scan the surface and land on areas of the moon that aren't flat terrain. Now they can use mission to successfully deploy landers wherever they want in the future, and this type of tech could help a lot with the future moon bases/manned landings

[@MattyEngland]

@@muzzyali8011 Bro they've been talking about moon bases and more manned landings since I was a kid in the 1980s! Don't hold your breath, it's always "just another 5/10 years"

[@muzzyali8011]

Yes I know. I'm not optimistic especially with the delays of Artemis and the recent unsuccessful moon landings. The only hope now is if SpaceX's starship Moon variant (HLS) becomes a reliable cargo ship. But that could take anywhere between 3-10 years honestly@@MattyEngland

[@MattyEngland]

@@muzzyali8011 Fingers crossed, it would be cool, but I've given up much hope of seeing it in my lifetime lol.

[@cogoid]

In 1960s the machines were simpler, more robustly built, and vastly better tested. More importantly, the landing attempts were made multiple times a year, and the engineers kept learning from their ongoing experience. Today, these teams are trying to anticipate everything ahead of time without having ever done such missions before. Plus they are trying to do fancy maneuvers. Even in 1960 it took more than a dozen of attempts for the USSR to achieve the first soft-ish landing. American Surveyor-1 was lucky to get it from the first try just after the Soviets, but was followed by some failures afterwards.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

There was also considerably more funding for the space programs in the 1960s. Money solves a lot of problems.

[@bewilderbeestie]

Also, they were insanely lucky.

[@cogoid]

@@Edax_RoyeauxSpaceflight was a brand new thing then, very exciting. Lots of competition. Less regulation. Also, the Ranger program (US attempts to photograph the Moon) had 7 failures in the first 7 flights -- that put a lot of pressure to take the Surveyor, which followed it, much more seriously. They really tested the hell out of that lander before it went into space.

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

Japan succeeded with the far more demanding Hayabusa 2 asteroid mission, so drawing broad conclusions from this one data point might be an overreach. Many things have gone wrong on many space probes, whether then or now or in between.

[@jukeservices]

Thanks Scott!

[@kevinshannon9917]

This is the analysis I've been waiting all week for! I knew Scott would publish a review of the data. I was not disappointed! Thanks, Scott!

[@patrickdurham8393]

They must have used a refractor telescope to pick a landing area.

[@jrs2002]

The Japan problem showed how valuable and precise Indian lunar landing was. And there are thousands across the world who said, "What's in a lunar landing?".

[@aungaisum8654]

Spend millions just to land a junk that's not working lol 😅

[@ccahill2322]

@jrs2002, Looney take-offs seem to be on the rise as looney landings a falling all over the place.

[@KARMA-jr6uk]

Also it was on far side of the moon

[@landshark2714]

If what I'm seeing is correct, it looks like a 3 point landing system? If so, did Japan not learn anything from the Honda ATC 3 wheeler ?

[@koharumi1]

8:30 Pocari Sweat is a huge brand. They also made some really cool ads. Especially the amazing choreography dancing ones. The song is really catchy

[@Jamie_Elizabeth192]

Good job Japan. You made it. One thing though, remember Tim Dodds saying: pointy end up, flamey end down🤬. That rule really helps. Seriously, good job. You guys made it there. Definitely worth celebrating.🎉🎉🎉

[@averteddisasterbarely2339]

This is what happens being indecisive ! Hope they can somehow fix the situation

[@freeculture]

I think that was actually the case, but that thing had no legs and the nozzles were not supposed to touch the ground, which they did... That fancy maneuver of "flip it to the side so it lands on its wheels" was a really bad idea.

[@morningstar7009]

*GOOD JOB JAPAN 🚀🌕*

[@scottmanley]

Previous Japanese lander was private company. Let me know when an Indian toy company can build a lunar rover.

[@R.Daneel]

@@rajeshgajwelly9035 Your repeated posting is just coming across as ignorant. Perhaps worry more about the failure of your personality and recognize the amazing success of soft landing a craft on the moon.

[@pavanajsridhar939]

​@@rajeshgajwelly9035bro you are talking too much, this mission is more complex than chandryan 3, it's a very difficult feat. Stop making comparison. No doubt isro is good but pls don't compare and comment. Get ur facts correct.

[@dx-ek4vr]

@@pavanajsridhar939 At this point, I have to wonder if that's just a bot response...

[@pavanajsridhar939]

​@@dx-ek4vr I am not a bot

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

Japan, capital of the 1960's tin toys world-wide, did not consider installing anything on their spacecraft to flip it over, something as simple as those tin toys used to have on them. I'm happy for them, but really sad, as a complete mission would be more rewarding for them.

[@TheTamriel]

The next lunar sunset on Feb. 1 brings freezing cold for a fortnight. "SLIM is not designed to survive a lunar night", the project manager for the lander, Shinichiro Sakai, told a press conference today. SLIM has thus a week left to perform its tests upside down and then will share the fate of India's Vikram lander a few months ago - never to wake up again.

[@ErikPelyukhno]

Those lil rovers are soooo cuuuuute 🥹🫶🏼

[@Astrophysikus]

Touching down softly, just to tip over is probably the most Kerbal landing ever. They should be glad it did not start to roll down the hill and explode :-D

[@jameswilson5165]

Wow! An old Heinlein novel had a lander land upside-down as well. Science fiction made fact once again!

[@LoopBell]

Tempted to read, mind sharing the title?

[@ianprivate3626]

​@@LoopBellDunno about Heinlein, but Ringworld, by Larry Niven, had a spacecraft land (actually crash) upside down.

[@epicaffairs]

India did it on the South Pole positively

[@Ikbeneengeit]

Scott, can you please explain the orbital transfer they used? Wasn't covered in KSP!

[@mshepard2264]

I wonder if they can figure out their orientation and charge the battery maybe they could upload some instructions to fire some of those 12rcs thrusters and fix the orientation? it would be pretty wild

[@mshepard2264]

i’m thinking it must have pretty beefy rcs thrusters because it was designed to do so much maneuvering.

[@craig7350]

Interesting landing strategy. Except lots of time when you get something to topple, it doesn't know when to stop toppling.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

A bottom heavy egg shape, i.e., a weeble. Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.

[@jarjar561]

Genius, all of our landers shall be Weeble's from now on@@MarcosElMalo2

[@memofromessex]

Shame this wasn't an Australian moon mission, then this would be a massive success!

[@therightmedico6223]

😂 Has your country even made a NEEDLE😂 on its own? Only imports that's all😂

[@daveg2104]

@@therightmedico6223 So I guess that comment went sailing way over your head in your eagerness. So, what country are you referring to. Australia? The commenter could be Australian, but there is no reason to think that. "essex" certainly isn't Australia.

[@arctic_haze]

All good flat earthers know that Australia is a NASA lie 🙃

[@daveg2104]

@@arctic_haze Hang on while I consult my NASA handbook on how to be Australian. Fair dinkum mate, don't tell porkies. We know flerfs are just a bunch of drongos with a few roos loose in the top paddock. "ya gotta lie to flerf". 🤪

[@Rohit-cj6eb]

Australia never done anything in technology it just waste of land area and resources

[@matzmatz4148]

*something happens ins Space.. Checks if Scott has something uploaded* .. uploaded 1 minute ago noice :3

[@rudy-memoca]

This is all fake, its photoshop editing

[@howso5302]

It was a crash, simply some of the electronic equiment still partial function. the ball detector was still ok.

[@fldon2306]

Great explanation! So, I watched the livestream on KZbin, and was just telemetry, no real-time video. It hovered at 50(?)m to “resurvey” to avoid rocks. The graphic on the lower right shows the craft “tipping”, then graphic shows upright. Apparently, it rolled upside down! So unfortunate. I didn’t hear the English speaking narrator mention release of the two autonomous vehicles. Hope they work! Thx!

[@vincentpendergast2417]

We've all done it in KSP.

[@viacheslavzemlianski6739]

Japanees engineers are really creative with inventing new ways to have problems.

[@christopherwhite1648]

The Japanese will out over complicate or over engineer like the Germans.

[@HappyOx99]

Mistakes make the best teaching materials.

[@dddbbb6940]

You should consider that this lunar program was carried out with a small budget compared to other countries.

[@ej8365]

So it's like a poor guy trying to buy and drive a BMW? 🤣@@dddbbb6940

[@viacheslavzemlianski6739]

@@dddbbb6940 Don't get me wrong - hats off for their achievment. But that's a rather unorthodoxal way to land a probe, leading to unorthodoxal way to screw up. However, they are usually also very creative in overcoming such problems and squising results out of the mission. Let's see.

[@mattbabino6849]

Congratulations to Japan. Getting closer and closer 🎉

[@robharding5345]

Back in 69 I was 12 yrs of age, I saw the first moon landing, The excitement in the whole room was electric, no one could really comprehend what had just taken place, Now it seems almost commonplace, But I will never forget the Apollo mission to the moon. the whole space programme back then was simply amazing for its time, I have a feeling, future generations of youngsters, and old alike, are going to witness even more spectacular missions. I wont be here ,But if those rumours are true about the infinite existence of our souls. I'll be looking on from afar .🤩

[@JackMack465]

Looking forward to all the upcoming lunar landing missions, too!

[@0x8badbeef]

Whatever happened to the balloon lander design? Once it stops bouncing around it can determine which way is down. Then it can figure out how to right itself under less dynamic conditions. Perhaps deflate each balloon in some order to right itself.

[@robbannstrom]

Balloon landers have only ever been used where there's an atmosphere, as on Earth or Mars. The spacecraft would enter the top of the atmosphere at several kilometers per second speed, would use aerobraking to bring its' speed down to about Mach 2, use drogue chutes to help with slowing a little more until the main chutes were deployed. When the lander was on the main chutes, the balloon outer would inflate and, at about 100 meters above the ground, the chutes would be cut free and the balloon-encased craft would fall to the surface, and bounce to a halt. Only done where there is an ATMOSPHERE.

[@0x8badbeef]

@@robbannstrom that is because parachutes don't work in a vacuum. How about replacing those with rockets? The landing craft with the balloons will be suspended by cables.

[@robbannstrom]

@@0x8badbeef It's all about weight to the surface - your idea has a bunch of mass - balloons, gas canisters, cables and sky crane mechanisms - doing nothing at all but to provide a cushion. Throw away all that junk, just use the rockets, which is what is being done anyway. There is a reason why YOU are not a space engineer.

[@0x8badbeef]

@@robbannstrom I'm thinking about all the uncertainty of the landing area. Something that will land safely no matter what the surface is. Then survive long enough to fix itself to do its job.

[@robbannstrom]

@@0x8badbeef Space is hard, landings especially so - get used to that fact.

[@poneill65]

Why-oh-why couldn't this have been the Australian Space Agency 😞

[@Misack8]

I thought the same, m8

[@merafirewing6591]

If it were, the memes would be going to new heights.

[@therightmedico6223]

So Australia has their own space agency ...wow something new😂

[@Rohit-cj6eb]

Wait Australia have space agency?

[@poneill65]

@@Rohit-cj6eb As of 2018, yes (lol). Obviously the joke was not grounded in reality and not intended to withstand forensic scrutiny by bored or anhedonic KZbin commenters!

[@patricks_music]

Interesting stuff. Space is tricky. Shame things didn’t work out.

[@chiron9948]

How come there are no pictures published from the descent or from a rover? Camera also broken, or censured out of embarrassment?

[@stevejohnson1685]

8:18 Love to see that Pocari Sweat soft drink can!

[@newfdogg]

9:11 🤣

[@VoidHalo]

It would be great if you made a video on why there has been such difficultyblately in getting to/landing on the moon when we seemed to do it so relatively (key word) easily 60 years ago. Obviously money was a big factor. Surely it can't just be down to money. And, this time we have the experience and hindsight of previous programs, especially Apollo, so you would expect it would be easier on the R&D front, at the very least.

[@brianniegemann4788]

I believe they were testing a new optical guidance system for landing on a slope. So new tech and a more difficult mission.

[@李小白-x4v]

In fact, it is very difficult to land on any planet with gravity but no atmosphere.

[@goobot1]

We don’t really have experience tho because the people who were a part of those missions are dead and the fact we didn’t do continuous missions from that point on means they never passed down their experience

[@Takyodor2]

That hoppy boi is the most excited-looking bot I've seen!

[@tanopo7951]

edit:Well done japan! Cant wait to see what the partnership with ISRO brings!

[@rajeshgajwelly9035]

as indian i am very proud of isro. we got the 2nd landing right. japan failed (soft landing but upside down). so japan should work with indians. ISRO is also the most efficient space program on earth and leading many other countries.

[@KevinS-vc6zc]

Shut up chinese bot!

[@Takyodor2]

@@rajeshgajwelly9035 Calling this a failure is way too harsh; if the sun reaches those solar panels in a week or two, everything might be ok. 👏🏻 well done Japan 👏🏻

[@BishopStars]

They're already on hold with tech support.

[@TomDrez]

​@@Takyodor2 don't bother, that look like one of thoses indians bot to me, just like that one who appear eveytime the name India or China appear in any videos or comment section, that "SUPERINDIASUPERCLEAN" bot (i'm serious it really exist). But i do think that it is a failure i don't know what you mean by "it's too harsh to call it that way" but even if they landed something on the moon the probe will not work properly and for long that way... So it's not a success but you know that's not the end of the world, don't be obsessed by whether things around you can be considered a failure or not that not important what's important is what thoses people will make of it, and that doesn't concern me or you, so please don't overreact to theses little things.

[@jessen00001]

Exciting news 🎉

[@JohnVance]

Man it was so hard to watch that whole livestream after Hakuto-R last year. At least this wasn't as catastrophic of a result. Godspeed, JAXA. Space is hard.

[@john_in_phoenix]

Thanks for the update explaining the probable orientation data from JAXA.

[@joseph7988]

Why the heck did it take 4 months to reach the moon? The Apollo missions took just a few days. What is so different now?

[@mrb.5610]

Saves fuel.

[@ladydustin7811]

To go directly like Apollo you need a lot more fuel. So extra weight.

[@shanent5793]

There's no crew to feed, keep warm, and limit their radiation exposure so they can take as long as they like

[@sacopanchez151]

1:25

[@joseph7988]

@@ladydustin7811 Oh so this was like a cost-benefit choice. Thanks.

[@davidiwata7063]

Congratulations to Japan for being the first country to land on the moon...upside-down.

[@mayankkamati9343]

😶‍🌫🙃

[@bruceleenstra6181]

"... because I was inverted."

[@andrewchew29]

Landed down-under in the south is normal. Declared success 😂🤣😂🤣

[@WheelsAndWrenches1977]

Very interesting video! They got close to a perfect landing, too bad for the last minute mishap... 😞

[@alpacamybag9103]

Landings like these make KSP seem even more realistic!

[@stevemoore12]

This is why I always quick save.