A rocket with a commercial Japanese lunar lander lifted off from Cape Canaveral (US) on Sunday. The landing on the moon is expected in April. If successful, the project would be the world’s first private lunar mission.
The rocket, which was launched in the US state of Florida on Sunday, is of the Falcon type from the American aerospace company SpaceX by Elon Musk, the lunar lander is “Hakuto-R” from the Japanese company ispace. “Hakuto” means “white rabbit” in Japanese, which according to local mythology lived on the moon. The “R” stands for reboot, i.e. a reboot.
Fuel-saving route
The Japanese mission had to be postponed several times recently. A fuel-saving route is now planned, using the Earth’s gravity and the sun for propulsion. Therefore, the landing on the moon is not expected until the end of April. There, “Hakuto R” will eventually spend about two weeks in orbit, getting closer to the moon’s surface with each orbit. If that works, he’ll have to set up lunar landers in an area called Atlas Crater.
Among other things, he has a small two-wheeled robot from the Japanese state space agency Jaxa on board. While the weight at launch was about 1000 kilograms, the lander would weigh only 340 kilograms when it lands on the moon. Most of that is fuel that is burned along the way.
So far, only government programs have landed on the moon. But it’s not the first attempt at a private lunar mission. For example, the Israeli non-profit organization Space IL launched the probe “Beresheet” towards the moon, but it failed just before the finish in 2019. A major engine of the spacecraft failed during the landing maneuver and communication with the spacecraft was lost. Finally, she crash landed on the moon.
Early next year, two American competitors plan to take a more direct route to the moon than ‘Hakuto R’. If they succeed, they can get there faster. Private companies have wanted to land on the moon for years. The research work began in the 1950s during the Cold War as a competition between the US and the then Soviet Union.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
