Japanese spacecraft Hakuto-R, launched into orbit, headed for the moon
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Japan’s first lunar lander Hakuto-R was successfully launched into Earth orbit on Sunday, Interfax reports.
The device was launched using a Falcon 9 rocket and began an independent flight to the moon, informs the American carrier developer SpaceX.
The launch was carried out at the base of the US Space Forces at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched at 10:38 Moscow time and after 47 minutes the device separated from its second stage and headed for the moon.
This is a completely private mission. Hakuto-R could be the first private spacecraft to successfully land on the moon.
The landing of the module weighing 1 ton is planned for April 2023 in the Atlas crater. It is on the visible side of the moon. The module is equipped with scientific instruments and will perform research functions as a stationary probe. The size of the lander is approximately 2 by 2.5 meters.
Together with him, the Rashid lunar rover, created in the UAE, weighing about ten kilograms, flies. It is equipped with a Langmuir probe, two high resolution cameras, a microscope and a thermal imager. Rashid is to photograph the lunar surface and do some research. His mission will last about 14 days.
In addition, the lander is loaded with a miniature mobile robot developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Japanese toy company Tomy. When folded, the lunar robot-transformer looks like a ball. It weighs 250 grams and is about 8 cm wide. Upon arrival on the Moon, it unfolds into a movable vehicle on two tiny wheels, with which it will move across the surface. The robot has cameras, it will transmit its images to Earth.
In addition, a small satellite, Lunar Flashlight, created by NASA, was sent to the polar orbit of the Moon. This cubesat, using infrared lasers mounted on it, will search for water ice inside eternally shadowed craters near the Moon’s South Pole.
The first spacecraft to land on the moon was the Soviet Luna-2, which delivered the pennant of the USSR to the planet on September 13, 1959.
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