{"id":9595,"date":"2025-05-16T11:22:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/?p=9595"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:47:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:47:27","slug":"landing-on-the-moon-is-an-incredibly-difficult-feat-%e2%88%92-2025-has-brought-successes-and-shortfalls-for-companies-and-space-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/?p=9595","title":{"rendered":"Landing on the Moon Is an Incredibly Difficult Feat \u2212 2025 Has Brought Successes and Shortfalls for Companies and Space Agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"
Several missions have already attempted to land on the lunar surface in 2025, with more to come. AP Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust<\/a>, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering.<\/p>\n

This time, it\u2019s not just superpowers racing to plant flags<\/a>, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moon\u2019s secrets and lay the groundwork for future human return<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far in 2025, lunar exploration has surged forward. Several notable missions<\/a> have launched toward or landed on the Moon. Each has navigated the long journey through space and the even trickier descent to the Moon\u2019s surface or into orbit with varying degrees of success. Together, these missions reflect both the promise and difficulty of returning to the Moon in this new space race defined by innovation, competition and collaboration.<\/p>\n

As an aerospace engineer<\/a> specializing in guidance, navigation and control technologies<\/a>, I\u2019m deeply interested in<\/a> how each mission \u2013 whether successful or not \u2013 adds to scientists\u2019 collective understanding. These missions can help engineers learn to navigate the complexities of space, operate in hostile lunar environments and steadily advance toward a sustainable human presence on the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why is landing on the Moon so hard?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lunar exploration remains one of the most technically demanding frontiers in modern spaceflight. Choosing a landing site<\/a> involves complex trade-offs between scientific interest, terrain safety and Sun exposure.<\/p>\n

The lunar south pole<\/a> is an especially attractive area, as it could contain water in the form of ice in shadowed craters, a critical resource for future missions. Other sites may hold clues about volcanic activity on the Moon<\/a> or the solar system\u2019s early history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each mission trajectory must be calculated with precision to make sure the craft arrives and descends at the right time and place. Engineers must account for the Moon\u2019s constantly changing position<\/a> in its orbit around Earth, the timing of launch windows<\/a> and the gravitational forces acting<\/a> on the spacecraft throughout its journey.<\/p>\n

They also need to carefully plan the spacecraft\u2019s path<\/a> so that it arrives at the right angle and speed for a safe approach. Even small miscalculations early on can lead to major errors in landing location \u2013 or a missed opportunity entirely.<\/p>\n

Once on the surface, the landers need to survive extreme swings in temperature<\/a> \u2013 from highs over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in daylight down to lows of -208 F (-133 C) at night \u2013 as well as dust, radiation and delayed communication with Earth. The spacecraft\u2019s power systems, heat control, landing legs and communication links must all function perfectly. Meanwhile, these landers must avoid hazardous terrain and rely on sunlight to power their instruments and recharge their batteries.<\/p>\n

These challenges help explain why many landers have crashed or experienced partial failures<\/a>, even though the technology has come a long way since the Apollo era.<\/p>\n

Commercial companies face the same technical hurdles as government agencies but often with tighter budgets, smaller teams and less heritage hardware. Unlike government missions, which can draw on decades of institutional experience and infrastructure, many commercial lunar efforts are navigating these challenges for the first time.<\/p>\n

Successful landings and hard lessons for CLPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several lunar missions launched this year belong to NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program<\/a>. CLPS is an initiative that contracts private companies to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon. Its aim is to accelerate exploration while lowering costs and encouraging commercial innovation.<\/p>\n

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An artist\u2019s rendering of Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost lander, which navigated and avoided hazards during its final descent to the surface. NASA\/GSFC\/Rani Gran\/Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The first Moon mission of 2025, Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost Mission 1<\/a>, launched in January and successfully landed<\/a> in early March.<\/p>\n

The lander survived the harsh lunar day and transmitted data for nearly two weeks before losing power during the freezing lunar night<\/a> \u2013 a typical operational limit for most unheated lunar landers.<\/p>\n

Blue Ghost demonstrated how commercial landers can shoulder critical parts of NASA\u2019s Artemis program<\/a>, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon<\/a> later this decade.<\/p>\n

The second CLPS launch of the year, Intuitive Machines\u2019 IM-2 mission<\/a>, launched in late February. It targeted a scientifically intriguing site near the Moon\u2019s south pole region.<\/p>\n

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\"An
An artist\u2019s rendering of Intuitive Machines\u2019 IM-2 mission, which is scheduled to land near the lunar south pole for in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon. NASA\/Intuitive Machines<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The Nova-C lander, named Athena<\/a>, touched down on March 6 close to the south pole<\/a>. However, during the landing process, Athena tipped over. Since it landed on its side in a crater with uneven terrain, it couldn\u2019t deploy its solar panels to generate power, which ended the mission early<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Athena\u2019s tipped-over landing meant it couldn\u2019t do all the scientific explorations it had planned, the data it returned<\/a> is still valuable for understanding how future landers can avoid similar fates on the rugged polar terrain.<\/p>\n

Not all lunar missions need to land. NASA\u2019s Lunar Trailblazer<\/a>, a small lunar orbiter launched in February alongside IM-2, was intended to orbit the Moon and map the form, abundance and distribution of water in the form of ice<\/a>, especially in shadowed craters<\/a> near the poles.<\/p>\n

Shortly after launch, however, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft<\/a>. Engineers suspect the spacecraft may have experienced a power issue, potentially leaving its batteries depleted.<\/p>\n

NASA is continuing recovery efforts<\/a>, hoping that the spacecraft\u2019s solar panels may recharge in May and June.<\/p>\n

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\"An
An artist\u2019s rendering of NASA\u2019s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. If recovered, it will orbit the Moon to measure the form and distribution of water on the lunar surface. Lockheed Martin Space<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Ongoing and future missions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Launched on the same day<\/a> as the Blue Ghost mission in January, Japanese company ispace\u2019s Hakuto-R Mission 2 (Resilience) is on its way to the Moon<\/a> and has successfully entered lunar orbit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lander carried out a successful flyby of the Moon<\/a> on Feb. 15, with an expected landing in early June<\/a>. Although launched at the same time, Resilience took a longer trajectory than Blue Ghost to save energy<\/a>. This maneuver also allowed the spacecraft to collect bonus science observations while looping around the Moon.<\/p>\n

The mission, if successful, will advance Japan\u2019s commercial space sector<\/a> and prove an important comeback for ispace after its first lunar lander crashed during its final descent<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A
The Resilience lunar lander days before its launch in the payload processing facility at the U.S. Space Force station. The Resilience lander has completed its Earth orbit and a lunar flyby. It is now completing a low-energy transfer orbit and entering an orbit around the Moon. Business Wire<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The rest of 2025 promises a busy lunar calendar. Intuitive Machines plans to launch IM-3<\/a> in late 2025 to test more advanced instruments and potentially deliver NASA scientific experiments to the Moon.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency\u2019s Lunar Pathfinder<\/a> will establish a dedicated lunar communications satellite, making it easier for future missions, especially those operating on the far side or poles, to stay in touch with Earth.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Astrobotic\u2019s Griffin Mission-1<\/a> is scheduled to deliver NASA\u2019s VIPER rover<\/a> to the Moon\u2019s south pole, where it will directly search for ice beneath the surface<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Together, these missions represent an increasingly international and commercial approach to lunar science and exploration.<\/p>\n

As the world turns its attention to the Moon, every mission \u2013 whether triumph or setback \u2013 brings humanity closer to a permanent return to our closest celestial neighbor.\"The<\/p>\n

Zhenbo Wang<\/a>, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering. This time, it\u2019s not just superpowers racing to plant flags, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moon\u2019s secrets and lay…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":9597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/667690\/original\/file-20250513-68-ie5jrw.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9598,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions\/9598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}