Altitude miscalculation caused Japan's Moon lander to crash, says space start-up

Japanese start-up ispace's failed Hakuto-R Moon landing mission in April was caused by an altitude miscalculation that meant the spacecraft ran out of fuel, the company said on Friday.

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Tokyo-based ispace lost connection with the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander after the spacecraft attempted what would have been the world's first commercial soft-landing on the Moon's surface.

The crash was the latest setback in Japan's space programme. The national space agency in March had to destroy its new medium-lift H3 rocket after it reached space, and its solid-fuel Epsilon rocket failed after launch in October.

Improvements would be made for the next two missions, ispace said.