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Japan’s private lunar lander is making history.
On November 28, Tokyo-based ispace’s Hakuto-R lander is scheduled to launch moonThe Atlas crater prepares for a soft landing, which could be the first time a private company has landed on the lunar surface.
Hakuto-R will take off SpaceX falcon 9 Launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida, the rocket will reach the moon by April 2023 at the latest.After landing, Hakuto-R will deploy a small United Arab Emirates rover called RashidThe four-wheeled rover will study the moon for 14 Earth days using high-resolution cameras, thermal imagers, microscopic imagers and probes designed to examine the lunar surface charge.
However, it is unclear whether Hakuto-R will be the first private enterprise to soft-land on the moon. NASA has commissioned Intuitive Machines to launch its Nova-C Lunar Landernow scheduled for March 2023, while Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander Said to take off in the first quarter of 2023 Spaceflight Now’s launch calendar (opens in a new tab). At this early stage, it’s hard to tell which of these companies will land first.
“Our first mission will lay the groundwork to unlock the moon’s potential and transform it into a strong and vibrant economy,” ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement. statement (opens in a new tab) Thursday (November 17), the day after NASA launched its Artemis human moon program and successfully launched an uncrewed spacecraft to the moon Artemis 1.
related: NASA says Artemis moon program will boost science and private spaceflight
Safely landing on the moon is difficult, especially for private companies without the resources of a national government.For example, SpaceIL’s privately funded Beresheet Lander Crashed while trying to land. 2019. But a new era is at hand, with small commercial landers flocking to pave the way for future human landings.
NASA’s Artemis program is supporting a range of companies such as ispace, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines. Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program (CLPS) will bring more robotic missions to the ground over the next decade. (Hakuto-R is not supported by CLPS, but ispace partner Draper was commissioned by NASA to lead a team on an audacious mission landing on the far side of the moon Scheduled to take place no earlier than 2025. )
related: Private moon landers may need more customers than just NASA
Hakuto-R’s primary landing site, Atlas Crater, is located in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon, near Mare Frigoris (“The Cold Sea”). ispace said the site was chosen to “maintain flexibility during operations,” but the company did not reveal many details other than to say the site allows for “multiple contingencies” during the long-duration transport phase of the mission.
“Careful consideration of target site criteria included sustained solar duration and visibility for communications from Earth,” ispace officials wrote. “Alternative landing targets included Lacus Somniorum, Sinus Iridium, and Oceanus Procellarum, among others.”
“Hakuto” means “white rabbit” in Japanese and is ispace management team Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP). GLXP gave $20 million to the first private group to be able to land on the moon and do some missions, but end of 2018 No winners receive prizes.
Hakuto-R (the “R” stands for “restart”) was originally planned to land on the moon in 2021, but was delayed due to technical problems and other matters. The company’s goal is to eventually enable human settlement using lunar water ice that can be mined in situ.
Elizabeth Howell is “why am i taller (opens in a new tab)? ” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @ Howell Space (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or Facebook (opens in a new tab).
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