Moon Race Heats Up: Japan And US Private Space Companies' Landers Begin Historic Journeys To Lunar Surface
Date
1/15/2025 10:14:09 AM
(MENAFN- Live Mint) Two moon landers, one from Japan's ispace and the other from US-based Firefly Aerospace, have begun their historic journeys to the lunar surface following SpaceX's unique double moonshot launch on Wednesday (January 15). The mission marks a significant step in the global competition to explore the moon.
ispace's Resilience's second attempt after previous setback
Japanese moon exploration company ispace is making a second attempt to land on the moon with its Hakuto-R Mission 2. The mission follows an initial failure in April 2023, when its first mission ended in disappointment due to an altitude miscalculation in the final moments.
Following the successful launch, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada shared his optimism, saying,“A moon landing is not a dream but it has become a reality ... and a success would be a huge, huge step forward for ispace.” He also confirmed that communication with their Resilience lander had been established, ensuring its attitude and power systems were stable.“We will make full use of the knowledge and experience gained in Mission 1 to prepare for the first orbit control maneuver scheduled in the near future," Hakamada added.
The Resilience lander is carrying $16 million worth of customer missions, along with six payloads, including an in-house "Micro Rover" designed to collect lunar samples. The mission is expected to land around May-June, following an energy-efficient trajectory involving a series of flybys, similar to the Japanese space agency's recent successful lunar mission.
Firefly's Blue Ghost: Aiming for the Moon
Meanwhile, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched its first-ever moon lander, Blue Ghost, making it the third company to launch a lander under NASA's public-private Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Blue Ghost is expected to reach the moon approximately 45 days after its launch, targeting a landing date around March 2.
Blue Ghost carries 10 payloads from NASA-funded customers and one from Honeybee Robotics, a subsidiary of Blue Origin. The mission will also last a full lunar day, or about two weeks, before the extreme cold of the lunar night renders it inoperable.
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