Today is the day for the Japanese space company, Ispace, to carry out what could be the first successful moon landing by a private company. Ispace Hakuto-R is planned to land at the Atlas crater on the moon today.
M1 program: Ispace and their moon exploration
The unmanned Hakuto-R left Earth in December last year and is part of their so-called M1 program. On board Hakuto-R is, among other things, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) small rolling robot Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) and the small rover Rashid from the United Arab Emirates.
Challenges with moon landings
It is not easy to make a soft landing on the moon, so it remains to be seen how it goes for Ispace and Hakuto-R. In 2019, the Israeli companies SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries attempted to land the spacecraft Beresheet on the moon, which ended in a crash landing when the spacecraft did not slow down as intended during the descent towards the moon.
Live stream: Follow the landing of Hakuto-R live
Above, you can follow a live stream of the landing of Hakuto-R.
