A private Japanese Lunar lander carrying two rovers launched via the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as they bid to become the first commercial spacecraft to land on the moon. Tokyo-based ISpace Inc.'s Hakuto-R lander launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

(Photo : Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 05: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft atop takes off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on October 05, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket will carry the four-person team of the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station and is scheduled to dock on Thursday, October 6.

First Commercial Spacecraft to Land on the Moon

At 2:38 AM EST, the Hakuto-R lander lifted off via the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket for the first mission of Japanese startup Ispace. SpaceX stated that it will take a circuitous path to the moon and is anticipated to touch down inside the Atlas crater at the end of April.

The two carried rovers came from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and United Arab Emirates (called Rashid rover). Aside from the two, an experimental solid-state battery from NG Spark Plug Co. is included and a music disc that contains a song called SORATO by a Japanese rock band named Sakanaction and other cargo.

As per Ispace Founder and Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Hakamada last month, it will open a door for the industry of commercial cislunar. This would be an achievement for Japan and the private industry.

Just a few days ago, Gizmodo reported that Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has been struggling for this mission as it experienced two postponements. This was originally scheduled for the end of November but stood down twice for additional pre-flight rocket checks.

Lunar Flashlight

According to Space, the first stage of the rocket came back for a landing at Cape Canaveral just eight minutes after launch and deployed Hakuto-R 47 minutes after liftoff. It then ejected the Lunar Flashlight six minutes later, which is a tiny NASA moon probe that has the same size as a briefcase.

The Lunar Flashlight will make its own way to the moon for roughly three months that will come to an end with insertion into a near-rectilinear halo orbit. This will be the same path that Gateway will cross, a small space station that NASA plans to build as a part of the Artemis moon program.

NASA's Lunar Flashlight Principal Investigator Barbara Cohen stated, "We are bringing a literal flashlight to the moon - shining lasers into these dark craters to look for definitive signs of water ice covering the upper layer of lunar regolith."

She added that she is very excited for this mission to contribute to their scientific understanding of where the water ice comes from on the moon and how it got there.

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Japan's Own Space Program

If all goes according to plan, it will strengthen the support for Japan's own space program. Bloomberg reported that Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has already been contracted by JAXA to build the first lunar lander. However, the original launch for this was in 2019 and the program has already been delayed for years.

The lander of Ispace is part of the $73 million contract that NASA won with a team led by Cambridge and Draper to provide end-to-end delivery services under the US Artemis moon program. 

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