Japanese space startup Ispace launched its second lunar lander, Resilience, early Wednesday in Florida, marking a critical step in the companyтАЩs quest to achieve a successful moon landing.
The lander, part of IspaceтАЩs Hakuto-R program, lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just after 1 a.m. from NASAтАЩs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Resilience is expected to land on the moon between late May and early June as part of NASAтАЩs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, through which the agency delivers scientific experiments and technology to the lunar surface.
The launch follows IspaceтАЩs first lunar landing attempt in April 2023, which ended in failure when a software error caused the lander to misjudge its altitude, resulting in a crash from approximately 5 kilometers above the surface of the moon, according to a company postmortem analysis following the accident.
Resilience, which underwent minimal hardware changes from the 2023 version, carries the weight of heightened expectations. A successful landing would make Ispace the first private Asian company to touch down on the moon.
тАЬWe have applied everything we have learnt,тАЭ CEO Takeshi Hakamada said as his opening remarks directly before the launch.
тАЬToday is only the beginning… but it is also one of the most exciting moments of every space mission, so I am very happy to be able to share this event,тАЭ he added.
тАЬWe are committed to building the cislunar ecosystem,тАЭ he said. тАЬLetтАЩs go to the moon!тАЭ
The Hakuto-R mission is laden with scientific and cultural payloads, including the microrover Tenacious, which will collect lunar soil for NASA. Additional payloads include a lunar water electrolysis device, a module for lunar food production, and a deep-space radiation probe.
Resilience is also carrying a “memory disk” containing the latest register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World program, an initiative that preserves the documentary heritage of humanity, along with a commemorative alloy plate from video game publisher and toymaker Bandai Namco and a small red тАЬMoonhouseтАЭ sculpture by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg.
While IspaceтАЩs team is optimistic, the outcome of the mission remains uncertain.
The Falcon 9 rocket is also carrying Firefly AerospaceтАЩs Blue Ghost lunar lander, which is on a separate trajectory and expected to touch down in March.
