ispace (Hakuto-R) Mission 1, Japanese private lunar mission Options

[climber]

Thanks for the link Phil, I’ll closely follow the mission now and report eventually.
I discovered that I know Evelyn who I met back in 2019 in Zurich at the Starmus festival. You might also know her since she normally get to LPSC. I learnt that she knows Jack Schmitt and I feel that she doesn’t always share all his conclusions about Taurus Littrow
Anyway, I’m going to write her, we’ll see.
Another quite funny story this time is about Francis Rocard. Olivier invited me, back in 2014, to attempt Philae landing in Paris with the scientists and members of the government. At the same time, I was following the landing also on UNMSF and somebody, cannot remember who, came up with a solution regarding where Philae has landed. Afterwards, I ran into Francis Rocard in the underground and told him, very excited, that I knew where was the probe but… fortunately ( ) couldn’t connect my cell phone.

[Phil Stooke]

"First time I see a landing date.
They write 23 of April!
Thorsten "

Other sources have said 25 April. When I look at the sunrise at Atlas crater, 25 April looks more likely. I think they want to do image-based navigation and hazard avoidance, so they need to land when the Sun is a bit higher than sunrise itself. But we will see. There is also the question of whether the date is Universal time or Japan time, nearly half a day apart.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

Interesting. Thanks Phil!
Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/ispace_inc/status/1640305097845481473

ispace tweets its first image of the Moon from its lander camera. It shows Langrenus crater and Mare Fecunditatis, south up as posted.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Another image, this time the far side, from the company which built the camera.

Phil

https://www.canadensys.com/canadensys-aeros...om-lunar-orbit/

[Phil Stooke]

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/space-e...-lunar-landing/

This website says the Hakuto-R mission 1 landing will be on the 29th of this month. I don't know where that comes from, but it is 4 days after sunrise, which seems a bit late to me.

Phil


(PS tip for anyone who doesn't know this - you can visualize the location of the lunar terminator on Quickmap by choosing to show the overlay 'sunlit region' and then selecting any date or time you want)

[Phil Stooke]

https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=4577

Press release from ispace regarding landing. The first date is April 25th (16:40 UTC) in Atlas crater.

If there are delays there are three backup sites: Lacus Somniorum, Sinus Iridum and a site near the Mairan Domes not far from Chang'e 5, in northern Oceanus Procellarum. Landing dates at those locations occur as they rotate under the orbit plane, on April 26, May 1 and May 3 respectively.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/ispace_inc/status/1648860477093494784

A tweet from ispace with another image of the Moon from orbit. It shows Mare Fecunditatis, like the first image we saw. In fact, it is the first image with two additional frames added, one on each side, to make a wider view.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/akaschs/status/1650226399456940033

Landing update with viewing information.

"HAKUTO-R M1 webcast starts at 11:00 a.m. EDT, Tue April 25.
Landing sequence starts at 10:40 a.m. EDT."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpR1UUnix3g

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Here are some maps of the landing site and backup sites. Keep in mind that the prime site with its 8 km landing ellipse is accurate but the backup sites (which should also be 8 km across) are only approximately located here - exact locations not yet available.

Originally GLXP Team Hakuto planned its own lander, but they dropped it and chose to fly their small rover 'Sorato' on Astrobotic's GLXP mission, which was then targeted at a collapse pit or skylight in Lacus Mortis. After GLXP ended without a winner, Hakuto was 'rebooted' as HAKUTO-R (capitalized in most publications, but it is not an acronym). At first they kept the same Lacus Mortis landing site, before moving to Lacus Somniorum and then Atlas crater.


Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/ispace_inc/status/1650506233575604227

Earthrise during the 20 April solar eclipse.

https://twitter.com/ispace_inc/status/1650408608197390336

Oblique view across Leibnitz crater, central far side. This is apparently the target of the Chang'e 6 sample return mission.

Phil

[Explorer1]

Stream on here (hopefully soon!)

[Hungry4info]

Stream has started.

[Hungry4info]

Deorbit burn is expected to have occurred by now. Currently behind the lunar farside and will regain contact in 30 min if nominal de-orbit burn.

[Hungry4info]

Contact re-established. Just a few minutes away from landing.