Category Archives: Japan

Tuesday / 16 April 2024

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ispace Japan and USA, Luxembourg Subsidiaries Preparing for Second and Third Moon Landing Missions

Resilience lunar lander being readied at Tsukuba JAXA facility as micro rover (1 of 5 manifested payloads to be delivered on HAKUTO-R Mission 2 NET Q4 2024), progresses to flight model build phase following successful testing of qualification model by ispace Luxembourg affiliate; Micro rover is key equipment for fulfillment of NASA regolith purchase under which both ispace Japan and USA were awarded precedent-setting $5,000 contracts; ispace USA also partnering with Draper on APEX 1.0 lander under CLPS contract, and will work with Raytheon subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies to deploy 2 ‘Venus class’ cis-lunar relay satellites during NET 2026 mission

Pictured: (L-R) ispace-U.S. CEO Ron Garan, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, Ispace-Europe engineer; Credits: ispace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 Apr 2024

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Japan Astronauts to Join 2 Artemis Lunar Surface Missions, Perhaps Becoming First Non-Americans on Moon

Building on prior agreements under which a Japan Astronaut will join a Gateway mission in lunar orbit (JAXA is to provide life support and power for I-Hab module and deliver supplies via HTV-XG spacecraft), USA and Japan are increasing lunar cooperation to include 2 opportunities for JAXA crewmembers to join Artemis Moon landings; In exchange Japan is to provide pressurized lunar rover designed to accommodate 2 astronauts for MSP sojourns up to 30 days on Artemis mission 7 and beyond over 10 year nominal lifespan

Pictured: (Clockwise) USA President Joe Biden, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Japan Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
Credits: JAXA, NASA

Friday / 29 March 2024

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SLIM Awakens for 3rd Lunar Day of Operations

JAXA team working at Sagamihara Campus SLIM control room are ebullient as their 2.4-m tall lunar lander reactivates yet again, enduring 2 cold nights on the Moon with temperatures below -130°C at mid-latitude landing site (-13.3160°, 25.2510°); Landscape imagery being taken via navigation camera currently amid high temperatures near 100°C with Sun relatively high overhead (necessary to power solar panels in off-nominal orientation); JAXA reports systems are mostly functioning aside from some temperature sensors and battery cells; Lunar day ends for SLIM on 30 March; SLIM team to present at Tanegashima Space Center open house 21 April

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 22 March 2024

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JAXA and Intuitive Machines Anticipate Possible SLIM and Odysseus Awakenings

2 landers currently in hibernation mode on lunar surface may reactivate in the coming days; JAXA SLIM resting within mid-latitude Mare Nectaris near Shioli crater (13.31°S, 25.25°E) may resume operations for a 3rd time since 19 Jan landing however JAXA operators caution repeated severe temperature cycles affect likelihood of late March restart; Intuitive Machines VP Trent Martin confirmed Odysseus (80.13°S, 1.44°E) in sunlight at 24th AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium currently ongoing and that IM is listening for signal; IM cash on hand stands at US$54.6M with $268.6M contract backlog

Credits: JAXA, IM

Tuesday / 27 Feb 2024

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Japan and USA Lunar Landers Are Transmitting Data From Lunar Surface

JAXA SLIM is once again functioning on the Moon following 1 lunar night and ~½ lunar day, imaging surrounds 55m east of target landing site (13.3160°S, 25.2510°E) with multiband spectroscopic camera; JAXA hopes to gain additional field of view relative to first observation campaign conducted 30-31 Jan (JST) via new commands for analysis and publication in Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences; Intuitive Machines Odysseus continues to operate from within unnamed 1-km diameter crater with 12° slope at 2,579 meters elevation, ~1.5km from target landing site (80.13°S, 1.44°E), sending imagery and data — albeit at reduced bit rate following orientation anomaly; Power loss may force end of operations morning of 27 Feb (CST) with reactivation possible next lunar day (mid-March)

 

Credits: Intuitive Machines, JAXA
 

Tuesday / 30 Jan 2024

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SLIM Awakens, Resumes Mission to Characterize Lunar Surface

The motorcycle-sized SLIM lunar lander is collecting solar energy and conducting spectral analysis of regolith near 13.3160° S, 25.2510° E landing site after 10 days of uncertainty following off-nominal descent caused by loss of 1 (of 2) 500 N main engine resulting in a flipped landing orientation requiring westward sun; Despite this adversity, SLIM did achieve 1.4 m/s soft-landing within ~55 m of precision targeted site and is set to continue collecting data until end of lunar day, ~31 Jan UTC (began ~16 Jan) within 10 spectral bands via Multiband Spectroscopic Camera (MBC); Landscape image (L) generated by completing 257 low-res images reveals first light including protuberance dubbed ‘toy poodle’

Credits: JAXA, Ritsumeikan University, University of Aizu

Tuesday / 23 Jan 2024

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Japan Celebrates Becoming 5th Nation to Soft Land on Moon as Efforts to Extend Surface Operations Continue

JAXA has met its minimum success criteria for SLIM mission by landing softly on the lunar surface, however operations were suspended when battery level reached 12% at 02:57, Jan 20 JST (17:57 on 19 Jan UTC) just hours after landing due to attitude anomaly which left solar panels oriented westward; Prior to battery disconnection, JAXA ‘obtained a lot of data‘ and hopes to receive more if lander can be reactivated as Sun moves west toward the end of the current lunar day (~30 Jan); While not designed for lunar night survivability, ‘if the spacecraft survives the -200°F night, then in two weeks’ time, it could revive again‘ per ISAS Director General Hitoshi Kuninaka

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 19 Jan 2024

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Moon Mission Preparing for Final Landing Approach

JAXA Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) currently in elliptical 600 x 150 km lunar orbit following Perigee Descent Maneuver #1 (PDM1) which transferred craft from a 600 x 600 km circular orbit on 17 Jan 22:28 JST (13:28 UTC); Operators now preparing for PDM2, which is slated to bring orbit perilune even closer to the lunar surface (15 m) while maintaining 600 km apolune at ~22:40 JST (13:40 UTC) on 19 Jan; Mission success to be measured by 3 criteria: achieving soft landing (minimum), verification of <100 m landing accuracy (full) and continued operations until lunar nightfall (extra); Onboard Multiband Camera to investigate area around 13.2° S, 25.3° E landing site for mineral composition (specifically olivine) and LEV-1 /-2 rovers to explore & image lander; JAXA to livestream landing descent starting 20 Jan 00:00 JST (19 Jan 15:00 UTC)

Credits: JAXA

New Year / Holiday Edition
Fri-Tues/ 22 Dec 2023 – 2 Jan 2024

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Japan Lander Near Moon Orbit as USA CLPS Providers and CNSA Ready Early 2024 Lunar Launches

SLIM set to perform LOI maneuver 25 Dec ahead of 20 Jan 100-m precision landing attempt near Shioli crater as JAXA engages global public with enhanced project website and amateur radio band transmissions to / from onboard LEV rover; Astrobotic Peregrine, now integrated within payload fairing atop the first fully stacked ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket, has 4-day launch window opening 02:18 EST on 8 Jan and anticipated landing 23 Feb on Sinus Viscositatis; Intuitive Machines Nova-C now targeting mid-Feb launch on SpaceX F9 due to weather / launchpad congestion with landing near Malapert A crater in the MSP region after ~7 days transit; CNSA Queqiao-2 communications relay to launch NET March 2024 followed by Chang’E-6 farside sample return NET May 2024, continuing 10+ years of China lunar surface exploration

Credits: JAXA, Intuitive Machines, IM, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 12 Dec 2023

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ispace and Orbit Fab Partnering on Moon Fuel Extraction and Transport

While working towards HAKUTO-R mission 2 NET 2024 and design of APEX 1.0 with Draper for CLPS CP-12 NET 2026, ispace looking to foster long-term lunar commercial development, signing MoU with Orbit Fab of Lafayette CO on in-space propellant mining / transfer technology maturation with “a series of innovative demonstrations, including resource mapping and ISRU” to be performed; Orbit Fab hopes to grow market for its Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) standard and is preparing to demonstrate 50-kg hydrazine refueling of USSF Tetra-5 utilizing Impulse Space depot Mira NET 2025

Credits: ispace, Orbit Fab