Private lunar lander captures image of ‘crescent Earth’ – Times of India

Lander captures images of Earth
ispace announced on Wednesday (December 14) that its lander, called “Hakuto-R”, has successfully taken images and transmitted them to the Hakuto-R Mission Control Center (MCC). The image was captured by the lander’s camera about 19 hours after separating from the launch vehicle made by SpaceX. The lunar lander was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday (December 11) as a part of the Hakuto-R Mission 1.
The mission aims to collect and process various lunar data, including image data, environmental data, telemetry, resource information, and more and provide them to its clients for use in lunar surface development. The lunar data service is expected to become an important revenue stream for the company.
“The lander will continue to record images throughout the mission,” said the lunar transportation service company, which brings customers’ payloads to the moon.
ispace builds robotic space technologies such as landers and rovers, and thus earns revenue from space agencies and private companies that may want to discover and use lunar resources.
What is ispace’s lander carrying?
The “Hakuto-R” lander is carrying Emirates Lunar Mission’s rover, Rashid, along with JAXA’s SORA-Q lunar robot. Both of these payloads will be delivered to the Moon’s surface by April next year. Emirates Lunar Mission is the first space exploration mission to the Moon from an Arab country.
The “Hakuto-R” lander is set to land inside the Atlas crater on the moon, an opening that measures more than 87 kilometres wide, and over two kilometres deep. The lander will then deploy the United Arab Emirates (UAE) space agency’s rover that will spend one lunar day (equivalent to 14.75 days on Earth) on the surface.
Why is the Rashid rover sent to the Moon?
The Rashid rover, named after a late sheikh of Dubai, will start its main operations which include analysis of the plasma on the lunar surface.
It will also conduct experiments to understand more about lunar dust. Moon has razor-sharp lunar dust particles that can stick to and erode spacesuits and costly equipment, causing operational problems.
Reports also say that the lander will spend the second lunar day conducting secondary operations, which include checking whether the rover will survive the moon’s tough nighttime environment. It will be decommissioned after carrying out operations.
Race to the Moon
In 2019, Hakuto team became one of the five finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition where private players competed to land a rover on Moon’s surface, and transmit back high-definition images from space, back to earth.
But the race to space ended without any of the finalists claiming the prize. As per Spacenews publication, the X Prize Foundation said that none of its five finalist teams would be able to launch a mission before the deadline, which was extended several times in the past. But despite the delay, the Hakuto team hustled, struck partnerships, and formed ispace Inc.
The ispace’s Hakuto R mission is set to be another endeavour in space agencies’ mission to the moon, determined to send human beings safely to the lunar surface, once again.
NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission
The development comes a few days after NASA’s Orion spacecraft returned to Earth after completing a 25.5-day journey as a part of the US space agency’s Artemis 1 moon mission. The main objective of the mission was to test Orion’s heat shield in preparation for upcoming Artemis missions.
Unlike Hakuto-R Mission 1, NASA will capture data from the onboard mannequins that were strapped with multiple sensors. The data will then be used to plan future missions involving humans. Furthermore, Artemis 1 mission only took five days from launch to reach the Moon.