Japan space firm to make 2nd attempt after failure in Dec. to send rover to Moon
The lunar lander Resilience, developed by Tokyo-based Japanese space startup ispace Inc
Japanese space startup ispace Inc. said Thursday its lunar lander carrying a rover and equipment for experiments will be launched in December at the earliest in its second attempt following a failure last year.
The lander Resilience will lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a mission to send the rover Tenacious to the Moon’s northern hemisphere. If successful, ispace will become the first Japanese private company to land a spacecraft on the moon.
The startup, aiming to establish a transport service between the Earth and the Moon, conducted its first lunar landing attempt in April last year, but its lander failed in the process of touching down.
U.S. company Intuitive Machines Inc. became the first private firm to successfully send a spacecraft to the lunar surface in February.
