Japan's ispace attempts historic private moon landing, but loses contact with lunar lander.

Japanese company iSpace is attempting to land an uncrewed probe on the Moon, which would be the first time a private firm has landed on the lunar surface. The spacecraft was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's SpaceX company last December. The lander will deploy a two-wheeled, tennis-ball-sized robot developed by a Japanese toymaker and a rover from the United Arab Emirates. The primary aim of the mission is to assess the viability of commercial launches to the lunar surface, with iSpace hoping to provide commercial services for a sustained human presence on the lunar surface.