A Japanese private spaceflight company showed off its moon lander under construction for a new moon landing mission in 2024.
A new video by ispace showed off the Mission 2 lander that will host a micro rover for a launch in winter 2024, if all goes to plan.
“Our engineers have been working on the Resilience lunar lander’s propulsion system, main body and electrical systems, among others,” officials with ispace wrote on X, formerly Twitter.This will be ispace’s second attempt at a moon landing following a navigation error that led to a crash on its first attempt in 2023.
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The new mission, should it get to the surface, will host a micro-rover. It is just 10.24 inches (26 centimeters) tall, 12.4 inches (31.5 cm) wide and 21.26 inches (54 cm) long, and has a mass of about 11 pounds (5 kilograms). It will also carry a high-definition camera near the front, to take images of moon dirt as it scoops samples.
This will be ispace’s second attempt at a moon landing following a navigation error that led to a crash on its first attempt in 2023.
The first lunar mission, the Hakuto-R lander, launched in December 2022 but crashed during its attempt in April. The onboard computer of the spacecraft miscalculated the altitude, causing a crash landing.
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Mission 2 is quite close to the Hakuto-R lander, which had a mass of about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg). But the new mission has software and other adjustments based on what happened during Mission 1, ispace has said.
Resilience, the name for the lander, aligns with the company’s motto of “Never Quit the Lunar Quest.” Following Mission 2 will come Mission 3, which is scheduled for launch in 2026. That mission will use the Apex 1.0 lunar lander, a larger lander with a projected payload capacity of 1,100 pounds (500 kg).
Dr. Sarah Adams is a scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to all. Her articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
