SpaceX on Wednesday postponed the launch of the world’s first personal lander to the Moon, a mission undertaken by Japanese agency ispace.
A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to blast off at 3:37 am (0837 GMT) on Thursday from Cape Canaveral within the US state of Florida, however SpaceX mentioned additional checks on the automobile had led to a delay.
“After additional inspections of the launch automobile and information assessment, we’re standing down from tomorrow’s launch of @ispace_inc’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1; a brand new goal launch date can be shared as soon as confirmed,” the agency tweeted.
Till now, solely the USA, Russia and China have managed to place a robotic on the lunar surface.
The mission by ispace is the primary of a program known as Hakuto-R.
The lander would contact down round April 2023 on the seen aspect of the Moon, within the Atlas crater, in response to an organization assertion.
The delay got here after the launch had already been postponed by a day because of the want for extra pre-flight checks, SpaceX and ispace mentioned on Wednesday.
Measuring simply over 2 by 2.5 meters, the lander carries on board a 10-kilogram rover named Rashid, constructed by the United Arab Emirates.
The oil-rich nation is a newcomer to the space race however counts current successes together with sending a probe into Mars’ orbit final yr. If it succeeds, Rashid would be the Arab world’s first Moon mission.
“We’ve got achieved a lot within the six quick years since we first started conceptualizing this challenge in 2016,” mentioned ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada.
Hakuto was considered one of 5 finalists within the worldwide Google Lunar XPrize competitors, a problem to land a rover on the Moon earlier than a 2018 deadline, which ended and not using a winner. However among the initiatives are nonetheless ongoing.
One other finalist, from the Israeli group SpaceIL, failed in April 2019 to grow to be the primary privately-funded mission to attain the feat, after crashing into the floor whereas trying to land.
ispace, which has simply 200 staff, says it “goals to increase the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by offering high-frequency, low-cost transportation providers to the Moon.”
© 2022 AFP
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SpaceX once more postpones Japanese moon lander launch (2022, December 1)
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