TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A deep space radiation probe developed by National Central University’s Department of Space Science and Engineering was launched from the US in January aboard Resilience, a lunar lander operated by Japan’s ispace, and transmitted its first scientific data within 36 hours of liftoff.

Chair Chang Chee-wei (張起維) said Resilience reached an altitude of over 10,000 kilometers on launch day and the probe sent its initial data set 36 hours later. On Friday, Resilience failed to decelerate sufficiently to land on the Moon and lost contact, ending the mission, according to ispace.

Although the lander did not achieve a soft touchdown, Chang said the mission marks Taiwan’s first participation in an international lunar mission and the first time the nation has transmitted observational data from beyond low Earth orbit, per CNA.

The probe collected environmental measurements between Earth and the Moon, in lunar orbit and as far as 1.1 million kilometers beyond the Moon, becoming Taiwan’s farthest-traveled scientific payload and demonstrating stable operation in harsh space conditions.

The payload underwent five trajectory corrections and overcame challenges—including extreme temperature swings, cosmic radiation and deep-space communication—after tests at National Tsing Hua University’s Nuclear and Science Development Center and the Proton and Radiation Therapy Center at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

According to ispace, Resilience carried three scientific instruments and was scheduled to operate on the lunar surface for 10 days post-landing to gather data for radiation-resistant spacecraft design.

In December, students from the university’s Department of Space Science and Engineering won first place in the preliminary round of the ninth Mission Idea Contest with “Lunar Ionosphere Characterization and GNSS Evaluation through Multi-Satellite Occultation,” designing a stable lunar orbit and optimizing power consumption, signal coverage and data transmission.