by Elizabeth Gibney
November 14, 2022
Introduction:
Read more here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03675-8(Nature) A lunar craft made by a Japanese company is vying to become the first commercial mission to land on the Moon. ispace’s M1 lander is scheduled to launch around 22 November from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The lander will carry payloads, including Moon rovers, for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA. If the mission is successful, the vehicles will mark both countries’ first forays onto the Moon’s surface; so far only the space agencies of the United States, China and the Soviet Union have successfully landed there.
M1, part of ispace’s Hakuto-R programme, will launch on a rocket built by SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California. The craft will take a circuitous route to the Moon, so it will land sometime at the end of March or in early April 2023, depending on its final launch date. This means that it could yet be overtaken by other commercial missions launching in 2023.
Destination, Moon!
The Moon has become a popular destination among national space agencies and private companies. The success of the missions by ispace and other firms will be a “huge, important step to developing the lunar ecosystem”, says Ryo Ujiie, chief technology officer at ispace. This system is ultimately geared towards harvesting water on the Moon. Some companies hope that lunar water can be used to produce rocket fuel that could eventually make Solar System exploration cheaper.
A successful mission for a private company funded by its customers will be “pretty exciting”, because it will show that the model works, opening the door for other firms, says Calzada Diaz, who previously worked at ispace. And research is likely to benefit, she adds. “Just knowing that it’s easier, faster and possible to go to the Moon more often is already important for science.”