Category Archives: Japan

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 Sep 2022

Posted on by

IAC73 Gathers Lunar Exploration Community, Optimal Landing Sites Including 4,990-m Malapert Under Consideration

Engaging 6,500+ world space professionals, International Astronautical Congress 2022 in Paris will be site of numerous high-level discussions during first Moon Exploration session 19 Sep: (L-R) Tatsuaki Hashimoto of JAXA to update on Omotenashi 6U CubeSat / micro-lander, to be deployed by Artemis 1; Daniel Andrews of NASA to share news on VIPER launching NET 2024; Steve Durst of ILOA Hawaii to present 5 Moon Missions September 2022 Update and rally support for prime South Pole landing area with Malapert Mountain: Moon High Ground Point E Awaits Landers interactive presentation

 

Credits: NASA, JAXA, ILOA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 Sep 2022

Posted on by

2022/3 Moon Missions Approach as Capstone & Danuri Near Lunar Orbit, Artemis Team Working to Launch

NASA Capstone on route to 3,000 x 70,000-km near rectilinear halo orbit 13 Nov; Danuri not far behind on similar low-energy ballistic lunar transfer, to reach orbital insertion 16 Dec; Artemis 1 may launch 23 or 27 Sep if LH2 leak is remedied on launchpad, JAXA 6U Omotenashi semi-hard impactor is 1 of 10 CubeSat rideshares; ispace Nov launch of Hakuto-R / Rashid rover, also to 3-month low-energy trajectory, landing in equatorial Lacus Somniorum; Astrobotic Peregrine lander slated to launch before EOY; Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander striving for NET Jan 2023 launch; ISRO Chandrayaan 3 targeting Q1 2023; Roscosmos Luna-25 pushed to NET 2023; JAXA SLIM slated for NET March 2023

Credits: NASA, KARI, Advanced Space

Friday / 22 July 2022

Posted on by

ispace Conducting Final Testing on HAKUTO-R Flight Model for November Launch Window

Operating in Japan, USA and Luxembourg, ispace may reach Moon surface within 2022 with Hakuto-R undergoing final thermal vacuum, vibration and function checks at IABG Space Centre near Munich Germany; Flight-ready Mission 1 lander expected to ship to KSC in Sep, launch via SpaceX F9 NET Nov carrying UAE MBRSC and JAXA rovers, flight computer and cameras from Canada enterprises Mission Control Space Services and Canadensys, NGK solid-state battery, engraved panels with supporter names

Credits: ispace

Tuesday / 12 July 2022

Posted on by

Space Habitat, Biome and Transport System Envisioned by Japan Academic / Industry Partnership

Kyoto University Human Spaceology Center teaming with Kajima Corporation to realize sustainable human occupancy of Moon, Mars, and interplanetary space; Comprehensive 3-part proposal includes 396-m Luna Glass, generating 1g artificial gravity via 20-second rotations, Nature biome extracted from global ecosystem, harnessing “natural capital”, and interplanetary Hexatrack transit which would ferry people to / from LEO station, cislunar Gateway, Mars moon Phobos and have modular capsule design for surface transport, hybrid electromagnetic railgun / chemical propulsion; Researchers estimate a precursor system could be constructed within 50 years, full build-out NET 22nd Century

Credits: Kyoto University / Kajima Corporation
 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 8-11 July 2022

Posted on by

New Lunar Era Underway with CAPSTONE On Route to Moon, Many Orbiters / Landers to Follow

Capstone Moon orbit pathfinder on nominal trajectory to achieve 4-body (Earth, Moon, Sun, Spacecraft) Ballistic Lunar Transfer; S. Korea Danuri orbiter next on Moon mission schedule, launching 2 Aug; NASA Mega Moon rocket SLS undergoing final prep with first Artemis 1 launch window open 23 Aug–6 Sep; Roscosmos Luna-25 lander tentatively set for late Sep; Window for ispace Hakuto-R carrying MBRSC Rashid rover open Oct-Nov; NASA CLPS providers Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines race to land Peregrine and Nova-C before EOY; SpaceX Starship 24 / Booster 7 on orbital launch pad at Boca Chica

Credits: NASA, Advanced Space

Tuesday / 21 June 2022

Posted on by

UAE Rashid Rover on Track for November Launch for Moon Landing on ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1

Deigned by Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre engineers at Dubai ‘Silicon Oasis’, 10-kg Rashid Rover now in France for CNES thermal / vibration testing; Integration with Series 1 Lander to follow at ispace facility in Germany, with arrival of lander / rover at KSC NET September; SpaceX Falcon 9 launch window opening early November; M1 will also carry payloads from JAXA (2-wheeled spheroid rover), Canadensys (2 360° cameras), NGK (solid state battery experiment), Mission Control Space Services (AI flight computer)

Pictured: Emirates Lunar Mission Director Hamad Al Marzooqi
Credits: ispace, MBRSC, Twitter
 
 

Tuesday / 7 June 2022

Posted on by

Laser Technology for Earth-Moon Communication Being Developed by Space Agencies / Private Sector

TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD), aboard PDT-3 cubesat (built / operated by Terran Orbital) aims to deliver information files from LEO at 200Gbps (USA D/L speeds average ~120Mbps); Italian Space Agency / NASA partnering on LuGRE (2023) to interface with GNSS signals from Moon via Firefly lander under CLPS; both projects utilize laser terminals and are overseen by NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN); Sony Space Communications also working on miniaturized laser comms derived from Small Optical Link for International Space Station installed on Kibo module

Credits: ESA, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 May 2022

Posted on by

Lunar Exploration / Science Missions Working Toward Orbit, Surface Landings In 2022

NASA CAPSTONE Moon probe launching on Rocket Lab Electron / Photon interplanetary kick stage is set to depart Earth NET 31 May, spending 6 days accelerating to 39,429 kph in LEO for 4-month fuel-sipping journey to test NRHO; Artemis 1 set for August per Administrator Nelson, however launch opportunities extend to 2023; KARI KPLO heading for lunar orbit 1 Aug, will broadcast K-pop; Roscosmos Luna-25 targeting 22 August while CLPS providers Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic and ispace of Japan strive to land on Moon within year

 

Credits: NASA, IM, Astrobotic, Draper, KARI

Friday / 20 May 2022

Posted on by

Artemis Human Moon Landing Announcement Expected as USA and Japan Leaders Meet

Lunar cooperation to be topic of President Biden meeting with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on 22-23 May stop of Asia tour, with Kyodo News of Toyko reporting a joint statement on Japan Astronaut participation in Artemis landings and plan outlining broad space cooperation to be released during summit; Commercial enterprise ispace and space agency JAXA planning robotic Moon landings HAKUTO-R and SLIM in late 2022 / 2023; 4th nation to launch a satellite, ISS partner nation Japan hopes to be 2nd nation with citizen on Moon

Credits: NASA, Whitehouse, Wikipedia

Tuesday / 26 April 2022

Posted on by

Japan Enterprises to Offer First Lunar Lander and Rover Insurance for Moon Missions

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance will indemnify HAKUTO-R lander mission sequence beginning NET Q4 2022 for ispace under newly signed MoU, with The Nikkei reporting an expected US$80M coverage level will cost lander companies $8M; Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance offering financial liability protection for mobile payloads that may suffer damage in-transit / on lunar surface with first customer Dymon of Tokyo, whose 498-g lunar rover YAOKI (touted as “world’s smallest lunar rover”) is slated for late 2022 mission with Astrobotic

Credits: ispace, Dymon, MSI, TMN