Japanese company iSpace has announced that its Resilience module will attempt to land on the surface of the Moon on June 6. It was launched into space with the Blue Ghost spacecraft back in the winter, but it flies on a very fuel-efficient and slow trajectory.
ISpace Company
Japanese private company iSpace announced at a press conference held on March 4 that its Resilience module was set to land on the Moon on June 6 this year. Their optimism is enhanced by the fact that the Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace, launched with their vehicle, has already successfully arrived there.
ISpace made its first attempt to reach the Moon back in 2023. However, its first automatic mission failed. The vehicle made a hard landing, meaning it crashed. However, the second mission takes place very quietly, so the company’s management expects success.
Private missions to the Moon
It is worth noting that landing on the Moon is not such a simple thing as it may seem, because the apparatuses have to carry it out exclusively using jet propulsion. So far, space agencies of only five countries have managed to do this: the USA, the USSR, China, Canada and Japan.
As for private companies, Firefly Aerospace became only the second private organization whose apparatus did not crash or flip in the process. Actually, Resilience was launched by the same Falcon 9 rocket as Blue Ghost, but it saves fuel so it flies on a very slow trajectory.
Resilience will complete its journey by circling the Moon and entering its orbit. After that, between June 6 and 8, it will land. Such unhurried tactics are very conducive to increasing iSpace’s chances of being included in the list of private companies whose vehicles have gently reached the surface of our moon.
However, it is also very likely to result in the Japanese not being third, but only fourth in this race. After all, as early as March 6, the Americans from Intuitive Machines will try to land their Athena vehicle with three rovers and a jumping robot on board on the Moon.
According to phys.org
