Japanese lunar company iSpace will launch the Hakuto-R lander on the Moon aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 before December, CEO Takeshi Hakamada said this week.
The spaceship, called Resilience, is financed by a private company and JAXA, Japan’s space agency, and is expected to be launched at Cape Canaveral a month and a half before launch.
It will deliver six payloads to the lunar surface, including the first experiment to test electrolysis on the Moon, and the Tenacity rover, which will collect regolith samples to sell to NASA—and drop an art project in the shape of a little red house. .
Do more
In 2022, iSpace launches its first lander to the Moon, but software errors cause the vehicle to lose track of its distance from the Moon and burn out of its propellant; it eventually crashed into the lunar surface. The company’s engineers said they learned from this and made better adjustments to the car to lower it a bit.
Winter Moon
iSpace is one of three private companies that will attempt to land on the Moon this winter, and is the only mission not funded by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payment Services program. However, its third mission with US contractor Draper is supported by CLPS.
Here are the rest of the crew—all expected to fly Falcon 9s:
- Blue Ghost, the first landing attempt under Firefly Aerospace’s CLPS program, is expected to be launched in November.
- IM-2, a second CLPS campaign from Intuitive Machines, is also scheduled to launch in December.
Cislunar economizing
China’s Chang’e mission has marked the 21st century in robotic missions to the Moon, including the first-ever return sample from space this year. The US is betting that a portfolio of privately designed residents can provide more money to explore potential areas for people, but after a series of missteps, it’s time to see someone stick to the area.
This story appeared first Payment and is republished here with permission.
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