Japanese Private Company to Relaunch Lunar Lander by End of Next Year to Attempt Moon Soil Collection

Japanese company ispace, which challenged the first private lunar landing but failed last April, announced on the 16th that it will launch its second lunar lander next winter.

According to Kyodo News on the same day, the ispace lunar lander will be loaded on a SpaceX rocket and is expected to be launched between October and December next year, with a landing attempt planned for 2025. ispace plans to equip the lander with a newly developed small exploration vehicle for collecting lunar soil. This exploration vehicle weighs about 5 kg and measures 26 cm in height, 31.5 cm in width, and 54 cm in length. A camera capable of capturing scenes of soil collection has also been installed.

Previously, ispace launched a lunar lander on December 11 last year. This lander rapidly descended due to fuel shortage just before completing its mission on April 26 and collided with the lunar surface. ispace attributed the failure to altitude misjudgment and explained that it has since improved the related software.

The company named its lunar exploration project "Hakuto-R" and is promoting lunar surface resource development and transportation services between the Moon and Earth. ispace plans to launch a third lunar lander in 2026 capable of carrying up to 300 kg of cargo.

Meanwhile, Japan has not yet succeeded in a lunar landing. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to attempt a lunar landing with its small lunar explorer "SLIM," launched in September, between January and February next year.