2023-04-26 04:15:56
Moon and Earth taken by Hakuto-R Mission 1 last weekend
- reporter, George Wright, Catherine Armstrong
- reporter, BBC News
The Japanese space company ‘Ispace’ announced on the 26th (local time) that the unmanned lunar probe ‘Hakuto-R Mission 1’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Mission 1’) lost communication while attempting to land on the moon, and it is highly likely that it crashed on the lunar surface. .
Previously, iSpace attracted attention by sending a lunar probe, which is rare for a private company around the world.
Mission 1 attempted to land at around 12:40 am on the 26th, but communication was cut off.
Experts are currently investigating.
Mission 1, which was launched on a SpaceX rocket in December of last year, took five months to reach the moon.
Mission 1 carried a rover (exploration robot) for lunar exploration and a tennis ball-sized transforming robot developed by a toy company.
On the other hand, 25 minutes after the scheduled landing time, Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of Ispace, said, “Communication with the lander cannot be confirmed.”
He explained, “Therefore, we must assume that (Mission 1) did not complete the lunar surface landing.”
Afterwards, CEO Hakamada said that he did not expect to be completely successful, but said, “I have achieved a lot through this mission because I gained various data and experience in the process of attempting to land.”
On the other hand, according to the live video, Mission 1 approached about 89 meters from the surface of the moon and tried to land afterward.
Mission 1, a relatively small lunar probe with a height of about 2 m and a weight of 340 kg, was scheduled to fly at about 6,000 km per hour in the sky about 100 km from the lunar surface and enter the landing phase for about an hour.
Mission 1, which was scheduled to land in the lunar hemisphere, carried two robots to analyze the lunar soil, geology and atmosphere. One of them was produced by ‘Tommy’, a toy company that made ‘Transformers’.
Meanwhile, the only countries in the world that have successfully landed lunar probes are the United States, Russia, and China. All three countries were government-led programs.
Later, in 2019, Israel launched the first civilian lunar lander, ‘Beresheet’. Beresheet barely made it to lunar orbit, but also failed during a landing attempt.
Meanwhile, iSpace’s primary goal for this mission was to evaluate the feasibility of a commercial launch to the lunar surface. iSpace hopes that this launch will be the first test to send a more advanced commercial lunar module in the future.
In other words, it will send mining equipment and other equipment so that humans can stay on the lunar surface continuously.
Dr. Adam Baker, director of a space consulting firm not involved in the Mission 1 project, described the lander’s success as a “big change” for commercial space exploration.
“If we can send lunar landers repeatedly for a reasonable cost, that means anyone who can pay that price can put anything on the moon’s surface,” Dr. Baker explained to the BBC.
A small robot designed to roll on the lunar surface
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