Resilience Lunar Lander to Touch Down on Moon on June 5

The Resilience lunar lander, developed by ispace Japan, is scheduled to enter the Moon’s orbit and make a landing on June 5, 2025, targeting the Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold), a vast basaltic plain in the Moon’s northern hemisphere. The location was chosen for its favorable sunlight exposure and consistent communication with Earth.

The mission began with its launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15, 2025. It includes a wide range of international payloads such as the Tenacious micro rover, scientific experiments, and cultural artifacts.

The lander completed a deep-space trajectory, flying past the Moon and reaching nearly 1.1 million kilometers from Earth, and is now on its way back to enter lunar orbit and prepare for descent.

Once on the lunar surface, the Tenacious rover, developed by ispace Europe, will be deployed to perform demonstrations of mobility and regolith (lunar soil) extraction. It is equipped with an HD camera and a scoop to collect soil. It will also deliver a “MoonHouse” sculpture created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg.

The lander itself will act as a cultural artifact, carrying a UNESCO Memory Disc that preserves linguistic and cultural diversity in 275 languages.

The mission has backup landing sites and dates in case conditions change. This landing represents a blend of science, technology, and global culture in one of the most ambitious lunar missions of the decade.