Hakuto-R Lander en Route to Moon as ispace Mission Control Works to Check Out Commercial Payloads
ispace Mission 1 is progressing nominally, with Hakuto-R spacecraft now ~550,000 km from Earth on low-energy cislunar transfer trajectory following completion of first orbit control maneuver – milestone 4 in mission profile; Milestone 3 partially complete with communications and data transfer of 2 Earth images (1 taken by Canadensys camera, 1 by ispace camera) accomplished while payload checks are ongoing; Hakuto-R is to cruise for ~1 month, reaching a distance of 1,400,000 km by 20 January, at which time another maneuver will begin 2-3 month return to lunar orbit