Category Archives: Japan

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 March 2023

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ispace HAKUTO-R M1 Nearing Moon / Attempt at 1st Commercial Landing, M2 and M3 to Advance ‘Cislunar Ecosystem’

Now on Moon-bound trajectory <800,000km from Earth (having reached distance of 1,376,000km in fuel efficient route), Hakuto-R lander team managing higher than expected thermal loads while working toward 6th ‘mission success milestone’, clearing way for Lunar Orbital Insertion by mid-March, landing on Moon late-April; M2 (NET 2024) Structural Thermal Model under construction in Japan, flight model build to start NET April in Germany; M3 (NET 2024) with Draper under US$73M NASA CLPS contract to carry AstronetX astronomical imager L-CAM; ispace mission control located in Tokyo with subsidiary offices in Luxembourg and Denver CO

Pictured: (T-B) ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, ispace CTO Ryo Ujiie; Credits: ispace, Canadensys

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 Feb 2023

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Independent / Commercial and National Moon Missions Working to Join Chang’E-3 & 4 Operating on Lunar Surface

ispace striving to conduct 1st commercial activity on Moon with landing of Hakuto-R, collection of regolith under US$5,000 NASA contract; ispace Lead Spaceflight Operations Engineer Angel Milagro updates on M1 progress (now 1,200,000 km from Earth), on track for April landing; JAXA SLIM launching NET April to Shioli crater; Ars Technica forecasts Astrobotic launch to Gruithuisen Domes NET May; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 targeting plain between Manzinus N and U craters NET June; Intuitive Machines launching to MSP on SpaceX F9 NET late June; Roscosmos Luna-25 may launch to Boguslawsky crater NET July

Credits: ispace, JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, LinkedIn

Tuesday / 24 Jan 2023

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JAXA Tests Skills of Astronaut Candidates in Lunar Simulation with Eye Towards Artemis Surface Missions NET 2025

2 woman and 8 men (out of 919 and 3,208 respective applicants) awaiting JAXA new astronaut class selection following final testing of rover / EVA aptitude in Space Exploration Field, a 400m2 lunar training replica containing 425,000 kg of silica sand (SiO2) within Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center at JAXA Sagamihara Campus; 2023 class of Japan Astronauts to be first including women since 1999 group, may also include candidates lacking formal postsecondary education; Space tourists Yusaku Maezawa and Steve Aoki may make lunar flyby on SpaceX Starship with #dearMoon NET 2023

Pictured: Exploration Hub Director Ikkoh Funaki, 2009 JAXA astronaut group; Credits: JAXA, @Astro_Wakata

 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Jan 2023

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2 Newly Arrived Moon Orbiters May Be Joined by at Least Half-Dozen Landers in Coming Months

As NASA / Advanced Space Capstone continues pathfinder mission of NRHO (so far finding Δv orbital maintenance requirements to be substantially less than expected) and KPLO Danuri prepares to begin science operations in Feb, ispace Hakuto-R lander should start return towards cislunar space after having reached furthest point in nearly 5-month fuel-efficient trajectory (1,400,000 km); Astrobotic PM-1 (with Project Kuiper and Celestis) and Intuitive Machines IM-1 (with DOGE-1) to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM (with XRISM) NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: JAXA, ISRO, Roscosmos

 

Tuesday / 3 Jan 2022

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ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander on Stable Course to Moon as 3rd Trajectory Burn Approaches

~1,250,000 km from Earth, HAKUTO-R maintaining nominal trajectory on fuel efficient path to Moon following 2nd correction maneuver 2 Jan with 3rd possibly to be conducted as craft reaches farthest point of journey (1,400,000 km) NET 20 Jan; ‘Milestone 5’ to be reached at 1-month of operations date (Jan 11); Innovative SORA-Q spheroid rover among payloads on M1 – designed by Doshisha University & Takara Tomy toy company with Sony dev board / Arm processor core for JAXA; SORA-Q to collect data on locomotion in 1/6 G for future human-capable pressurized lunar vehicle

Pictured: Yosuke Yoneda, Kenta Hashiba of TOMY Company; Credits: ispace, Takara Tomy, JAXA

New Year Holiday Edition
Fri-Mon / 23 Dec 2022 – 2 Jan 2023

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2023 Moon Roster Full of Independent and National Touchdowns Following 2022 Orbital Activity

At least 6 attempts to robotically land on the lunar surface are slated for 2023, after a year that saw Capstone DRHO insertion, Danuri near 100 x 100 km desired polar orbit (refining current 109 x 8920 km via 4 additional orbital maneuvers), Artemis 1 flyby / DRO; Hakuto launched on Dec 11 as Orion splashed down, now on 1-month cruise to next TCM targeting April landing; Landers Nova-C and Peregrine launching NET Q1, SLIM April, Chandrayaan-3 June, Luna-25 July, while Chang’E-3 lander / LUT, Chang’E-4 Yutu-2 rover continue only current operations on Moon

Credits: NASA, ispace, IM, Astrobotic, ISRO

Friday / 16 Dec 2022

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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

Credits: ispace, Canadensys

Tuesday / 13 Dec 2022

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ispace Hoping to Spark ‘Vibrant Economic System’ on Moon with First Commercial Lunar Landing

HAKUTO-R Mission 1 team preparing to execute first orbital control maneuver putting M1 on low-energy ballistic transfer following successful 11 Dec launch and subsequent attainment of attitude and power supply stability; 35-m ESA antenna in New Norcia, Australia tracking M1, other Estrack / Goonhilly stations to monitor lander as it progresses into deep space; ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada heralds beginning of “sustainable ecosystem” and “growing this industry together with [competitors]”; ispace targeting Atlas Crater (47.5°N, 44.4°E) NET 25 April; Rideshare JPL Lunar Flashlight on route to DRHO around Moon

Credits: ispace, SpaceX, Twitter, NASA

Tuesday / 6 Dec 2022

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ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Reportedly Launching on Falcon 9 Wednesday Morning from CCSFS

A leading contender in an increasingly crowded race to the first commercial Moon landing, ispace of Tokyo, hopes to launch Mission 1, first in HAKUTO-R (White Rabbit) series of lunar missions, on 7 Dec at 3:04 EST from SLC-40 via SpaceX F9, accompanied by JPL Lunar Flashlight CubeSat; The 340-kg dry / 1,000-kg wet M1 lander has payload capacity of 30 kg, to carry an array of international payloads including rovers from UAE and Japan; While launch was delayed by SpaceX for launch vehicle inspection, ispace plans “no major operational changes”, nominal landing in late April 2023

 Pictured: ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, CTO Ryo Ujiie, CFO Jumpei Nozaki, CRO Atsushi Saiki; Credits: ispace, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 Dec 2022

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Wave of Independent Moon Missions to Trail Artemis 1, Followed by National Efforts, Then Another Raft of Indies

As NASA / ESA Orion Moonship returns to Earth, Advanced Space-controlled, Tyvak-built, NASA-funded Capstone remains in NRHO and Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri on course to reach Moon orbit 16 Dec, planned commercial missions include ispace M1 awaiting SpaceX launch at KSC pending F9 review; Intuitive Machines IM-1 March 2023; Astrobotic PM1 Q1 2023; Followed by national missions from JAXA (SLIM, April 2023), ISRO (Chandrayaan-3, June 2023), Roscosmos (Luna-25, July 2023); Independents IM-2 (late 2023), SpaceX landing demo mission (2024), IM-3 (Q2 2024), Astrobotic GM1 (Nov 2024)

 Credits: NASA, ISRO, KARI, IM, SpaceX, Astrobotic,