{"id":76834,"date":"2022-12-12T00:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T05:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/japanese-startup-launches-historic-lunar-mission\/"},"modified":"2022-12-12T00:07:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T05:07:00","slug":"japanese-startup-launches-historic-lunar-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/japanese-startup-launches-historic-lunar-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese startup launches historic lunar mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The spacecraft, produced by Tokyo-based ispace, was launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the US state of Florida on Sunday<\/p>\n

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In this handout photo provided by NASA, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 05. (Photo: AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published: December 12, 2022 05:07 AM GMT<\/p>\n

Updated: December 12, 2022 05:13 AM GMT<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The launch was carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida after two postponements for additional pre-flight checks.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft, produced by Tokyo-based startup ispace and carrying a UAE-built rover, blasted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:38 am (0738 GMT), live footage of the launch showed.<\/p>\n

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“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 CEO, Takeshi Hakamada, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

So far only the United States, Russia and China have managed to put a robot on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

The ispace mission is the first of a program called Hakuto-R, which means “white rabbit” in Japanese.<\/p>\n

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 the Japanese zodiac.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Gulf country is a newcomer to the space race but 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.<\/p>\n

UAE Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum celebrated the launch as “part of the UAE’s ambitious space program” in a tweet on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“Our goal is to transfer knowledge, develop our capabilities, and leave a scientific footprint in human history,” he said.<\/p>\n

The UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre said a signal from the spacecraft had successfully been received by ground control.<\/p>\n

Hakuto was one of five finalists in Google’s Lunar XPrize competition to land a rover on the Moon before a 2018 deadline, which passed without a winner.<\/p>\n

The ispace lunar lander is also carrying two robots produced by Japan’s space agency and a disc with the song “SORATO” by Japanese rock band Sakanaction, which was originally written in support of the Google competition.<\/p>\n

Israeli organization SpaceIL, another finalist in the contest, failed in April 2019 to become the first privately-funded mission to land on the Moon, after its lander crashed into the surface while attempting to land.<\/p>\n

ispace, which has just 200 employees, has said it “aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon.”<\/p>\n

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