By Kantaro Komiya TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the lunar surface during its touchdown attempt on Friday, marking another failure two years after an unsuccessful inaugural mission.

A private Japanese spacecraft falls silent while trying to land on the moon, company officials say.

Richard de Grijs, an astronomer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, says there will likely be more private companies trying to land their own crafts on the Moon.