Japan recently launched the private spacecraft Resilience, which will land on the Moon, and is now in orbit around the moon.
The Resilience spacecraft, built by Tokyo-based company ispace , reached lunar orbit yesterday, May 6, on schedule. In about a month from now, the craft will attempt a landing on our satellite.
"First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that Resilience successfully achieved lunar orbit entry as planned," said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace. "We will continue to move forward with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing."
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Resilience launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket , along with another private lunar lander, the Blue Ghost , built and operated by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace.
Blue Ghost was the first to reach the moon. It entered orbit on February 13 and landed on the lunar surface on March 2. This achievement was historic, as Blue Ghost became the second private spacecraft to successfully land on the Moon, following Odysseus in February 2024.
Japan’s Resilience followed a low-energy, fuel-saving trajectory, making a close flyby of the Moon on February 14. If all goes according to plan, Resilience will reach the Moon on June 5 and land on Mare Frigoris (“Sea of Cold”), a plain in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.
It is worth noting that Japan has already succeeded in landing a spacecraft (SLIM – “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”) in January 2024.
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Resilience is carrying five payloads for scientific and technological purposes. One of them is a tiny rover, Tenacious, which was built by its subsidiary ispace in Luxembourg. This rover will collect samples from the lunar surface, which will be studied by NASA. The small rover also carries its own payload, “Moonhouse,” which is a work by artist Mikael Genberg and is mounted on Tenacious’s front bumper.
The upcoming landing attempt aims to pave the way for further exploration of the Moon and exploitation of its resources. The company's first lunar rover successfully reached orbit in March 2023, but failed during a landing attempt in April.
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The Resilience mission strengthens Japan's and Asia's position in the new space landscape, and paves the way for future commercial activities, such as resource extraction or infrastructure construction on the Moon.
It is indicative that, even after a failed landing in 2023, the company returned with a new attempt. This shows the resilience and maturity of the commercial space sector, which will play a decisive role in the future of space missions.
Source: www.space.com
