NASA photographs crash site of a Japanese firm’s lunar lander

CAPE CANAVERAL — A NASA spacecraft around the moon has photographed the crash site of a Japanese company’s lunar lander.

NASA released the pictures Friday, two weeks after ispace’s lander slammed into the moon.

The images show a dark smudge where the lander, named Resilience, and its mini rover crashed into Mare Frigoris or Sea of Cold, a volcanic region in the moon’s far north. A faint halo around the area was formed by the lunar dirt kicked up by the impact.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the scene last week.

The crash was the second failure in two years for Tokyo-based ispace. Company officials plan to hold a news conference next week to explain what doomed the latest mission, launched from Cape Canaveral in January. /das