Japan’s Ispace attempts world’s first commercial moon landing
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/world/lu ... index.html
A Japanese lunar lander, carrying a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates, will attempt to find its footing on the moon’s surface Tuesday — potentially marking the world’s first lunar landing for a commercially developed spacecraft.
The lander launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 11. Since then, the spacecraft has taken a three-month trek to enter orbit around the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the trek took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) into space.
Live coverage of the landing is expected to begin Tuesday as early as 11:20 a.m. ET, or about an hour and 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled landing. Touchdown is expected to occur Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. ET, which is Wednesday at 1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time.
The lunar lander, called Hakuto-R, is carrying the Rashid rover, which was built by Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, in the United Arab Emirates — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft.
In history, only three countries have ever executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon.
Japanese company Ispace, which built the Hakuto-R lander, has a different approach to prior lunar missions, aiming to land its spacecraft on the moon as a for-profit business rather than under the banner of a single country.
The company has shared mission updates on its Twitter account, including a recent photograph of the Earth peeking out from behind the moon that was captured by the spacecraft as it traveled through lunar orbit.
The lunar exploration company has been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company wrote in a December 11 post.
If successful, the 22 pound (10 kg) Rashid rover will emerge from the lunar lander and spend “most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon,” according to the European Space Agency, which helped design the rover’s wheels.
The “Rashid rover is equipped with one high resolution camera on its front mast and another mounted on its rear, as well as a microscopic camera and thermal imaging camera,” ESA said. “It also carries a ‘Langmuir probe’ to sample the plasma environment prevailing just above the lunar surface.”
The context
Japan’s Ispace is one of several companies that competed in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered a $20 million reward to the company that could put a robotic rover on the moon, travel a couple of thousand feet, and transmit data back to Earth.
PHOTO DATE: March 29, 2023. LOCATION: Bldg. 8, Room 183 - Photo Studio. SUBJECT: Official crew portrait for Artemis II, from left: NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. PHOTOGRAPHER: Josh Valcarcel
The four astronauts NASA picked for the first crewed moon mission in 50 years
The Google-sponsored competition was scrapped in 2018 — but Ispace was among the companies that chose to continue pursuing the mission.
Israel-based company SpaceIL was the first XPrize contestant to attempt to put its lander on the moon after the program ended. Its Beresheet spacecraft crashed in 2019 after ground teams lost contact with the lander as it approached the surface.
That same year, the Indian Space and Research Organisation lost contact with a lunar lander shortly before it was slated to touch down on the moon. Communications with the spacecraft were never regained, and images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later revealed the crash site and final resting place of the mission.
A mission to retrieve lunar soil samples on behalf of NASA is part of Ipsace’s future plans — its Artemis program involves the use of commercial lunar landers to explore the lunar surface.
The company is relying on the ESA to provide key communications with its robotic lunar lander, the agency noted in a news release.
PP
First Commercial Moon Landing
Re: First Commercial Moon Landing
Commercial lunar lander presumed lost after historic moon landing attempt
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/world/lu ... index.html
CNN
—
A Japanese lunar lander, carrying a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates, attempted to find its footing on the moon’s surface Tuesday — potentially marking the world’s first lunar landing for a commercially developed spacecraft. But flight controllers on the ground were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting the company to presume the spacecraft was lost.
The lander launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 11. Since then, the spacecraft took a three-month trek to enter orbit around the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the trek took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space.
Touchdown was expected to occur Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. ET, which is Wednesday at 1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time.
Minutes passed as the mission control team worked to regain contact with the vehicle after an expected communications blackout. About 20 minutes after the planned landing time, Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada delivered an update.
“We have not been able to confirm successful landing,” he said. “We have to assume…that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface. Our engineers continue to investigate the situation.”
The lunar lander, called Hakuto-R, was carrying the Rashid rover, which was built by Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, in the United Arab Emirates — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft.
In history, only three countries have ever executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon.
Japanese company Ispace, which built the Hakuto-R lander, has a different approach to prior lunar missions, attempting to land its spacecraft on the moon as a for-profit business rather than under the banner of a single country.
The company had shared mission updates on its Twitter account, including a recent photograph of the Earth peeking out from behind the moon that was captured by the spacecraft as it traveled through lunar orbit.
The lunar exploration company had been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company wrote in a December 11 post.
If successful, the 22 pound (10 kg) Rashid rover was expected to emerge from the lunar lander and spend “most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon,” according to the European Space Agency, which helped design the rover’s wheels.
The “Rashid rover is equipped with one high resolution camera on its front mast and another mounted on its rear, as well as a microscopic camera and thermal imaging camera,” ESA said. “It also carries a ‘Langmuir probe’ to sample the plasma environment prevailing just above the lunar surface.”
The context
Japan’s Ispace is one of several companies that competed in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered a $20 million reward to the company that could put a robotic rover on the moon, travel a couple of thousand feet, and transmit data back to Earth.
The Google-sponsored competition was scrapped in 2018 — but Ispace was among the companies that chose to continue pursuing the mission.
Israel-based company SpaceIL was the first XPrize contestant to attempt to put its lander on the moon after the program ended. Its Beresheet spacecraft crashed in 2019 after ground teams lost contact with the lander as it approached the surface.
That same year, the Indian Space and Research Organisation lost contact with a lunar lander shortly before it was slated to touch down on the moon. Communications with the spacecraft were never regained, and images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later revealed the crash site and final resting place of the mission.
A mission to retrieve lunar soil samples on behalf of NASA is part of Ispace’s future plans — its Artemis program involves the use of commercial lunar landers to explore the lunar surface.
The company is relying on the ESA to provide key communications with its robotic lunar lander, the agency noted in a news release.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/world/lu ... index.html
CNN
—
A Japanese lunar lander, carrying a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates, attempted to find its footing on the moon’s surface Tuesday — potentially marking the world’s first lunar landing for a commercially developed spacecraft. But flight controllers on the ground were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting the company to presume the spacecraft was lost.
The lander launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 11. Since then, the spacecraft took a three-month trek to enter orbit around the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the trek took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space.
Touchdown was expected to occur Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. ET, which is Wednesday at 1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time.
Minutes passed as the mission control team worked to regain contact with the vehicle after an expected communications blackout. About 20 minutes after the planned landing time, Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada delivered an update.
“We have not been able to confirm successful landing,” he said. “We have to assume…that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface. Our engineers continue to investigate the situation.”
The lunar lander, called Hakuto-R, was carrying the Rashid rover, which was built by Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, in the United Arab Emirates — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft.
In history, only three countries have ever executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon.
Japanese company Ispace, which built the Hakuto-R lander, has a different approach to prior lunar missions, attempting to land its spacecraft on the moon as a for-profit business rather than under the banner of a single country.
The company had shared mission updates on its Twitter account, including a recent photograph of the Earth peeking out from behind the moon that was captured by the spacecraft as it traveled through lunar orbit.
The lunar exploration company had been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company wrote in a December 11 post.
If successful, the 22 pound (10 kg) Rashid rover was expected to emerge from the lunar lander and spend “most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon,” according to the European Space Agency, which helped design the rover’s wheels.
The “Rashid rover is equipped with one high resolution camera on its front mast and another mounted on its rear, as well as a microscopic camera and thermal imaging camera,” ESA said. “It also carries a ‘Langmuir probe’ to sample the plasma environment prevailing just above the lunar surface.”
The context
Japan’s Ispace is one of several companies that competed in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered a $20 million reward to the company that could put a robotic rover on the moon, travel a couple of thousand feet, and transmit data back to Earth.
The Google-sponsored competition was scrapped in 2018 — but Ispace was among the companies that chose to continue pursuing the mission.
Israel-based company SpaceIL was the first XPrize contestant to attempt to put its lander on the moon after the program ended. Its Beresheet spacecraft crashed in 2019 after ground teams lost contact with the lander as it approached the surface.
That same year, the Indian Space and Research Organisation lost contact with a lunar lander shortly before it was slated to touch down on the moon. Communications with the spacecraft were never regained, and images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later revealed the crash site and final resting place of the mission.
A mission to retrieve lunar soil samples on behalf of NASA is part of Ispace’s future plans — its Artemis program involves the use of commercial lunar landers to explore the lunar surface.
The company is relying on the ESA to provide key communications with its robotic lunar lander, the agency noted in a news release.
PP
Re: First Commercial Moon Landing
Japan’s Ispace reveals why its lunar lander crashed into the moon
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/world/ha ... index.html
A lunar lander likely plummeted 3 miles before smashing into the lunar surface after a historic attempt to make a soft touchdown on the moon, the Japanese company Ispace revealed Friday.
The misstep can probably be traced to a software issue and an incorrect measurement of the spacecraft’s altitude as it attempted to find its footing on the moon, the company said.
“Based on the review of the flight data, it was observed that, as the lander was navigating to the planned landing site, the altitude measured by the onboard sensors rose sharply when it passed over a large cliff approximately 3 kms (1.9 miles) in elevation on the lunar surface, which was determined to be the rim of a crater,” according to a Friday news release from Ispace, which built the spacecraft.
The Hakuto-R lunar lander was aiming to make history in late April in its attempt to become the first spacecraft — developed by a private company rather than a government space agency — to make a controlled landing on the moon. The lander also carried a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates.
But shortly after Hakuto-R’s expected landing time, flight controllers on the ground revealed they were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting the company to presume the spacecraft was lost.
The spacecraft’s fate was confirmed this week when NASA announced that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured 10 images of Hakuto-R’s landing site and found what appears to be at least four pieces of debris from the crash landing.
“While the lander estimated its own altitude to be zero, or on the lunar surface, it was later determined to be at an altitude of approximately 5 kms (3.1 miles) above the lunar surface,” according to Ispace’s news release. “After reaching the scheduled landing time, the lander continued to descend at a low speed until the propulsion system ran out of fuel. At that time, the controlled descent of the lander ceased, and it is believed to have free-fallen to the Moon’s surface.”
Landing attempt
The lander launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 11. The spacecraft made a three-month trek to the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (384,600 kilometers) from Earth. Hakuto-R then entered orbit around its target, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the journey took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space.
During a news conference Friday, Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada reiterated that the Hakuto-R spacecraft was able to transmit data right up until its failed landing attempt. The company received valuable data to fine-tune its lunar lander design for another attempt, Hakamada said.
The lunar lander was carrying the Rashid rover — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft, which was developed by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Only three countries have executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon.
Japan’s Ispace had a different approach from earlier lunar missions, attempting to land its spacecraft on the moon as a for-profit business rather than under the banner of a single country.
Even before the failed landing attempt, Ispace had been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company noted in a December 11 post.
Had the landing been successful, the 22-pound (10-kilogram) Rashid rover would have been expected to emerge from the Hakuto-R. Rashid would have spent “most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon,” according to the European Space Agency, which helped design the rover’s wheels.
Ispace’s backstory
Japan’s Ispace is one of several companies that competed in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered a $20 million reward to the firm that could put a robotic rover on the moon, travel a couple of thousand feet and transmit data back to Earth.
The Google-sponsored space race was scrapped in 2018 when no competitor was able to meet the deadline, but Ispace was among the companies that chose to continue pursuing the mission.
Israel-based company SpaceIL was the first XPrize contestant to attempt to put its lander on the moon after the program ended. The Israeli Beresheet spacecraft crashed in 2019 after ground teams lost contact with the lander as it approached the surface.
That same year, the Indian Space and Research Organisation lost contact with a lunar lander shortly before it was slated to touch down on the moon. Communication with the spacecraft was never regained, and images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later revealed the crash site and final resting place of the mission.
A mission to retrieve lunar soil samples on behalf of NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to use commercial lunar landers to explore the moon’s surface, is part of Ispace’s future plans.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/world/ha ... index.html
A lunar lander likely plummeted 3 miles before smashing into the lunar surface after a historic attempt to make a soft touchdown on the moon, the Japanese company Ispace revealed Friday.
The misstep can probably be traced to a software issue and an incorrect measurement of the spacecraft’s altitude as it attempted to find its footing on the moon, the company said.
“Based on the review of the flight data, it was observed that, as the lander was navigating to the planned landing site, the altitude measured by the onboard sensors rose sharply when it passed over a large cliff approximately 3 kms (1.9 miles) in elevation on the lunar surface, which was determined to be the rim of a crater,” according to a Friday news release from Ispace, which built the spacecraft.
The Hakuto-R lunar lander was aiming to make history in late April in its attempt to become the first spacecraft — developed by a private company rather than a government space agency — to make a controlled landing on the moon. The lander also carried a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates.
But shortly after Hakuto-R’s expected landing time, flight controllers on the ground revealed they were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting the company to presume the spacecraft was lost.
The spacecraft’s fate was confirmed this week when NASA announced that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured 10 images of Hakuto-R’s landing site and found what appears to be at least four pieces of debris from the crash landing.
“While the lander estimated its own altitude to be zero, or on the lunar surface, it was later determined to be at an altitude of approximately 5 kms (3.1 miles) above the lunar surface,” according to Ispace’s news release. “After reaching the scheduled landing time, the lander continued to descend at a low speed until the propulsion system ran out of fuel. At that time, the controlled descent of the lander ceased, and it is believed to have free-fallen to the Moon’s surface.”
Landing attempt
The lander launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 11. The spacecraft made a three-month trek to the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (384,600 kilometers) from Earth. Hakuto-R then entered orbit around its target, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the journey took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space.
During a news conference Friday, Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada reiterated that the Hakuto-R spacecraft was able to transmit data right up until its failed landing attempt. The company received valuable data to fine-tune its lunar lander design for another attempt, Hakamada said.
The lunar lander was carrying the Rashid rover — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft, which was developed by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Only three countries have executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon.
Japan’s Ispace had a different approach from earlier lunar missions, attempting to land its spacecraft on the moon as a for-profit business rather than under the banner of a single country.
Even before the failed landing attempt, Ispace had been bracing for mishaps. “Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025,” the company noted in a December 11 post.
Had the landing been successful, the 22-pound (10-kilogram) Rashid rover would have been expected to emerge from the Hakuto-R. Rashid would have spent “most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon,” according to the European Space Agency, which helped design the rover’s wheels.
Ispace’s backstory
Japan’s Ispace is one of several companies that competed in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered a $20 million reward to the firm that could put a robotic rover on the moon, travel a couple of thousand feet and transmit data back to Earth.
The Google-sponsored space race was scrapped in 2018 when no competitor was able to meet the deadline, but Ispace was among the companies that chose to continue pursuing the mission.
Israel-based company SpaceIL was the first XPrize contestant to attempt to put its lander on the moon after the program ended. The Israeli Beresheet spacecraft crashed in 2019 after ground teams lost contact with the lander as it approached the surface.
That same year, the Indian Space and Research Organisation lost contact with a lunar lander shortly before it was slated to touch down on the moon. Communication with the spacecraft was never regained, and images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later revealed the crash site and final resting place of the mission.
A mission to retrieve lunar soil samples on behalf of NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to use commercial lunar landers to explore the moon’s surface, is part of Ispace’s future plans.
PP
Re: First Commercial Moon Landing
A lunar lander likely plummeted 3 miles before smashing into the lunar surface after a historic attempt to make a soft touchdown on the moon, the Japanese company Ispace revealed Friday.
Statute miles, nautical miles, or lunar miles?
PP
Statute miles, nautical miles, or lunar miles?
PP
Re: First Commercial Moon Landing
That's a fairly big error......... 
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OneHungLow
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Apollo 11's "1202 Alarm"
Apollo 11 came very close to disaster on their approach to the lunar surface due to a software abend. The preternaturally calm Armstrong, didn't blink and carried on manually flying the lunar module until the computer picked up its skirts and started dancing again.
Longer story...
Longer story...
The observer of fools in military south and north...
Re: First Commercial Moon Landing
I find the failure to run any simulation after the change in designated landing site incredible, especially since there were apparently 'numerous' such for the earlier target/s.