Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Japanese startup ispace has gained notability for the successful launch into space of its Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander, and should it achieve its goal of performing a soft landing on the surface of the Moon, it will write an entirely new chapter of history.
The lander was sent into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on December 11 at 2:38 am local time in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Since the launch, the ispace team reported that initial checks have been promising. Stable communications have been established with the lander and items such as the power supply and all core systems are operating as designed.
Before too long the Hakuto-R lander will be directed to make its way to the Moon. This trip will take about a month.
If all goes well, Hakuto-R will then position for a stable orbit around the Moon. In the final step, it will make its soft lunar landing–probably in late April–and reestablish communications from its position within the Atlas Crater in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.
The payload includes the Rashid lunar rover from Dubai and the two-wheeled SORA-Q, a “transformable lunar robot,” from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Assuming success, Hakuto-R Mission 1 will make Japan only the fourth country (after United States, Russia, and China) to successfully put a vehicle on the surface of the Moon. Both Israel and India have failed in recent years in attempts to do the same. Also, this would be the first such mission accomplished by a private company.
ispace is one of Japan’s leading space industry startups. It was founded in 2010 with rather dreamy-eyed stated objectives such as to “extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon.”
Videos produced by the company envision the discovery of water on the Moon and then the construction of a Moon colony with a population of about a thousand people by 2040.
Whatever the practicality of this vision, ispace has grown to about two hundred employees and has raised over US$230 million. Among its investors are the Development Bank of Japan, Suzuki Motor Corporation, and Japan Airlines (JAL).
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