By Jatan Mehta | Coverage, with context, of Japan’s multiple efforts to explore the Moon.
Moon Monday
Japan launches the SLIM lunar lander with an unprecedented aim On September 7, Japan launched the 2012-proposed SLIM lander to the Moon. Shortly after separating from the upper stage of its H-IIA launch vehicle in Earth orbit, SLIM completed sun acquisition control and JAXA reported its health to be normal.
Moon Monday
ispace Japan’s first Moon lander crashed less than 7 kilometers from its target site Just a month after ispace Japan’s first lunar lander Hakuto-R failed to touchdown on the Moon on April 25, the company has identified from telemetry data the key causes of the M1 surface mission
Moon Monday
On ispace’s failed Moon landing attempt and related tangents for NASA’s CLPS craft On April 25, ispace Japan’s first lunar lander Hakuto-R aced through its remotely-initiated, hour-long autonomous descent on the Moon until the very last moments when it stopped communicating to Earth. ispace said that while
Moon Monday
Dear readers, I have 3 exciting things to share with you today: 1. Moon Monday crossed 4,000 subscribers last week, with the majority gratifyingly continuing to be planetary scientists and engineers, personnel at national space agencies, executives at space companies, and fellow writers & journalists from around the world!
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Edit on May 29, 2023: The lander failed to touchdown. :( Today, December 11, private Japanese company ispace inc. launched its first ever Moon mission M1 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ispace’s robotic “Hakuto-R” spacecraft is now on a low-energy, fuel-efficient trajectory to the Moon, after four months of
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