Dubai: The Japanese company that sent a lander carrying the UAE’s Rashid Rover to the Moon lost contact with the HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander post the planned landing time on Tuesday night.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai tweeted: “ispace has updated that they have lost communication with the HAKUTO-R lander and have not been able to confirm a successful landing. Their engineers are continuing to investigate the situation and will update once they finish investigation.”

The success rate of soft landing on the Moon is 50 per cent, with the lander derailing from its trajectory, communication loss, harsh landing due to environmental changes or lander faults as well as surface threats like craters and boulders being cited as the main challenges.