Akihabara News (Tokyo) — A lander built by a private Japanese company has entered orbit of the Moon ahead of its scheduled touchdown in about a month’s time.
The Hakuto-R Mission 1 is a project developed by the Tokyo-based startup ispace.
This firm has ambitious plans to pioneer the discovery and development of lunar resources, with a clear objective of creating a permanent human presence on the Moon.
Mission 1, as the name suggests, is a vital early step.
After landing next month in the Atlas Crater on the rim of Mare Frigoris in the northeastern quadrant of the lunar surface, the mission is designed to create a steady telecommunications link and a power supply to support surface operations in the future.
Most notably, it is delivering a lunar rover called Rashid to the Moon, which has been developed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. This rover is equipped with microscopic and thermal imaging cameras.
ispace expects that Mission 1 will help validate the performance of its technology and enable the firm to make necessary changes for future missions.
It was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which delivered the Japanese lander into space last December.
ispace plans to increase the frequency of its lunar landings in future years, ultimately allowing for swarms of rovers to operate on the lunar surface
Should the mission touch down safely next month, it will become the world’s first private-sector lunar module to successfully land on the Moon.
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