Japan will make its second lunar landing attempt on Friday, while uncertainty in U.S. policy complicates the outlook.

Gate News bot news, Japanese startup ispace plans to complete its second unmanned lunar landing at 03:17 Beijing time this Friday, striving to become the first non-U.S. company to successfully achieve a controlled lunar landing. This comes two years after its first failed attempt.

If this mission is successful, ispace will transfer the "ownership" of the collected lunar soil to NASA, which will become the world's first commercial lunar resource transaction.

According to a statement from NASA in 2020, ispace's subsidiaries in Japan and Luxembourg will each receive $5,000 from the transaction. However, it is uncertain whether the contract will be affected given the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts. Neither NASA nor ispace spokespeople have commented on this.

On the other hand, Japanese investors are enthusiastic about the lunar landing plan, with ispace's stock price rising by about 60% so far this year.

Source: Jin Shi