MUSK -UNS/AFP: A Japanese startup’s spacecraft was launched to the moon on Sunday in the country’s first-ever lunar mission and the first of its kind by a private company.
The launch was carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX in Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida after two postponements for additional pre-flight checks.
The spacecraft, produced by Tokyo-based startup ispace, blasted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:38am, live footage of the launch showed.
“Our first mission will lay the groundwork for unleashing the moon’s potential and transforming it into a robust and vibrant economic system,” the startup’s chief executive officer, Takeshi Hakamada, said in a statement.
So far only the United States, Russia and China have managed to put a robot on the lunar surface.
The ispace mission is the first of a programme called Hakuto-R, which means “white rabbit” in Japanese.
The company said its lunar lander was expected to touch down on the visible side of the Moon in April 2023 — the year of the rabbit in Japan.
Measuring just over two by 2.5 meters, the spacecraft has a payload that includes a 10-kilogram rover built by the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf country is a newcomer to the space race but recently sent a probe into Mars’ orbit last year. If the rover, named Rashid, successfully lands, it will be the Arab world’s first moon mission.
