Bite my space dust, Elon and Bezos! JAPANESE firm is set to become first private company to land on the moon TODAY – beating SpaceX and Blue Origin
- A Japanese startup is set to make a soft landing on the moon Tuesday
- This will be the first private company to touch down on the lunar surface
- READ MORE: SpaceX launches Japanese lunar lander on a mission to the moon
A Japanese startup of just 200 employees is set to beat Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to the moon.
ispace is just hours away from making history when it attempts to become the first private company to land a craft on the lunar surface.
The firm’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander aims to touch down in the Atlas Crater, the northeastern quadrant of the moon, at 12:40pm ET, with live coverage starting around 11:20am ET.
The seven-foot-tall M1 will begin an hour-long landing phase from its current position in the moon’s orbit some 62 miles above the surface, moving at nearly 3,700 mph, Chief Technology Officer Ryo Ujiie told a media briefing on Monday.
So far, only the United States, Russia and China have managed to put a robot on the lunar surface, all through government-sponsored programs.
ispace shared an amazing image of its view of Earth from space using cameras aboard its M1 lander that is set to touch down on the lunar surface at 12:40pm ET. This image was take 62 miles above the moon
ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said earlier this month: ‘What we have accomplished so far is already a great achievement, and we are already applying lessons learned from this flight to our future missions.
‘The stage is set. I am looking forward to witnessing this historic day, marking the beginning of a new era of commercial lunar missions.’
Musk is set to launch humans to the moon with NASA during the epic Artemis mission in 2025, and Bezos has long-shared dreams of colonizing Earth’s natural satellite.
The billionaires have hit many bumps in their roads to the moon and will be grounded for years after ispace lands Tuesday.
M1, which is six feet tall and weighs 749 pounds, is set to activate its sensor to adjust its altitude and speed as it descends to the lunar surface.
Ujiie said this feat carries an ‘inevitable risk’ because it will be the first and only use of the sensor in a lunar environment.
After a soft landing, M1 must recharge before unleashing the United Arab Emirates Rashid rover and a two-wheeled robot built by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
If all goes to plan, ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander will start its descent towards the lunar surface at around 11:40am ET
The firm’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander is aiming to touch down Atlas Crater in the northeastern quadrant of the moon
Rashid will be the UAE’s first mission to the moon and is planned to explore the Atlas crater, which has yet to be investigated by robots.
Named Rashid after Dubai’s royal family, the device will collect ‘novel and highly valued’ scientific data, according to Emirates project manager Hamad Almarzooqi.
He added that the lunar surface is ‘an ideal platform’ to test new tech that can be used for eventual human expeditions to Mars.
JAXA’s robot, the size of a baseball, will collect data on the lunar surface, including regolith, that could help to develop autonomous-driving technology.
Two Canadian companies have contributed some 360-degree cameras and a flight computer, which will use artificial intelligence to identify geological features seen by the UAE rover.
Private company ispace designed its craft to use minimal fuel to save money and leave more room for cargo, so it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have hit many bumps in their roads to the moon and will be grounded for years after ispace lands Tuesday
M1, which is six feet tall and weighs 749 pounds, is set to activate its sensor to adjust its altitude and speed as it descends to the lunar surface
READ MORE: Jeff Bezos unveils Blue Origin’s lunar lander
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed the ambitious next steps for his aerospace company at a highly-secretive media event.
In contrast to its five-month mission, NASA’s Orion crew capsule with test dummies took five days to reach the moon last month.
ispace has announced three alternative landing sites and could shift the lunar descent date to April 26, May 1 or May 3, depending on conditions.
Hakuto means ‘white rabbit’ in Japanese and references Japanese folklore that a white rabbit lives on the Moon.
The project was one of five finalists in Google’s Lunar X Prize competition to land a rover on the Moon before a 2018 deadline, which passed without a winner.
ispace has said it ‘aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon.’
Hakamada has touted the mission as laying ‘the groundwork for unleashing the Moon’s potential and transforming it into a robust and vibrant economic system.’
The firm believes the Moon will support 1,000 people by 2040, with 10,000 more visiting each year.
It plans a second mission, tentatively scheduled for next year, involving a lunar landing and the deployment of its own rover.
M1 launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December that blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
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