A Japanese company had hoped that the second time would be the charm for putting a robotic lander on the moon. But it appears to have failed again.

       Five hours after the landing time of 3:17 p.m. Eastern on Thursday came and went, officials at the Tokyo headquarters of Ispace said on Friday morning local time that they had not been able to get in contact with the Resilience spacecraft and presumed it had crashed in the northern hemisphere of the lunar near side.

       Ispace is among the private companies that have emerged in recent years aiming to establish a profitable business by sending experiments and other payloads to the surface of the moon.

       Its first robotic spacecraft made it to lunar orbit in 2023, but crashed as it attempted to land. Its second spacecraft launched in January and has been taking a roundabout path to the moon, entering orbit last month.

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       Around the scheduled time, the spacecraft performed its landing sequence, and contact was lost with the spacecraft. Soon, the looks of silent concern in the control room were eerily similar to what unfolded during Ispace’s first mission.

       During the news conference, company officials said that the rate of descent did not slow as much as expected, and the spacecraft probably made a hard landing. The laser instrument that measured how high Resilience was above the surface was slow in making its measurements, which may have contributed to the problem.

       Do You See Craters or Bumps on the Moon’s Surface? A picture taken recently by a Japanese company’s spacecraft shows how your interpretation of objective reality can be tested by the power of illusion.

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