SPACE / COSMOS
By AFP
January 8, 2025
ispace wants to win its own place in space exploration history
- Copyright AFP Philip FONG
Kyoko HASEGAWA
Japanese startup ispace vowed its upcoming second unmanned Moon mission will be a success, saying Thursday that it learned from its failed attempt nearly two years ago.
In April 2023, the firm’s first spacecraft made an unsalvageable “hard landing”, dashing its ambitions to be the first private company to touch down on the Moon.
The Houston-based Intuitive Machines accomplished that feat last year with an uncrewed craft that landed at the wrong angle but was able to complete tests and send photos.
With another mission scheduled to launch next week, ispace wants to win its place in space history at a booming time for missions to the Moon from both governments and private companies.
“We at ispace were disappointed in the failure of Mission 1,” ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters.
“But that’s why we hope to send a message to people across Japan that it’s important to challenge ourselves again, after enduring the failure and learning from it.”
“We will make this Mission 2 a success,” he said.
Its new lander, called Resilience, will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15, along with another lunar lander built by US company Firefly Aerospace.
If Resilience lands successfully, it will deploy a micro rover and five other payloads from corporate partners.
These include an experiment by Takasago Thermal Engineering, which wants to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas with a view to using hydrogen as satellite and spacecraft fuel.
– Rideshare –
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will arrive at the Moon after travelling 45 days, followed by ispace’s Resilience, which the Japanese company hopes will land on the Earth’s satellite at the end of May, or in June.
For the programme, officially named Hakuto-R Mission 2, ispace chose to cut down on costs by arranging the first private-sector rocket rideshare, Hakamada said.
Only five nations have soft-landed spacecraft on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and, most recently, Japan.
Many companies are vying to offer cheaper and more frequent space exploration opportunities than governments.
Space One, another Japanese startup, is trying to become Japan’s first company to put a satellite into orbit — with some difficulty so far.
Last month, Space One’s solid-fuel Kairos rocket blasted off from a private launchpad in western Japan but was later seen spiralling downwards in the distance.
That was the second launch attempt by Space One after an initial try in March last year ended in a mid-air explosion.
Meanwhile Toyota, the world’s top-selling carmaker, announced this week it would invest seven billion yen ($44 million) in Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies.
“The global demand for small satellite launches has surged nearly 20-fold, from 141 launches in 2016 to 2,860 in 2023,” driven by private space businesses, national security concerns and technological development, Interstellar said.
Kyoko HASEGAWA
Japanese startup ispace vowed its upcoming second unmanned Moon mission will be a success, saying Thursday that it learned from its failed attempt nearly two years ago.
In April 2023, the firm’s first spacecraft made an unsalvageable “hard landing”, dashing its ambitions to be the first private company to touch down on the Moon.
The Houston-based Intuitive Machines accomplished that feat last year with an uncrewed craft that landed at the wrong angle but was able to complete tests and send photos.
With another mission scheduled to launch next week, ispace wants to win its place in space history at a booming time for missions to the Moon from both governments and private companies.
“We at ispace were disappointed in the failure of Mission 1,” ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters.
“But that’s why we hope to send a message to people across Japan that it’s important to challenge ourselves again, after enduring the failure and learning from it.”
“We will make this Mission 2 a success,” he said.
Its new lander, called Resilience, will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15, along with another lunar lander built by US company Firefly Aerospace.
If Resilience lands successfully, it will deploy a micro rover and five other payloads from corporate partners.
These include an experiment by Takasago Thermal Engineering, which wants to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas with a view to using hydrogen as satellite and spacecraft fuel.
– Rideshare –
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will arrive at the Moon after travelling 45 days, followed by ispace’s Resilience, which the Japanese company hopes will land on the Earth’s satellite at the end of May, or in June.
For the programme, officially named Hakuto-R Mission 2, ispace chose to cut down on costs by arranging the first private-sector rocket rideshare, Hakamada said.
Only five nations have soft-landed spacecraft on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and, most recently, Japan.
Many companies are vying to offer cheaper and more frequent space exploration opportunities than governments.
Space One, another Japanese startup, is trying to become Japan’s first company to put a satellite into orbit — with some difficulty so far.
Last month, Space One’s solid-fuel Kairos rocket blasted off from a private launchpad in western Japan but was later seen spiralling downwards in the distance.
That was the second launch attempt by Space One after an initial try in March last year ended in a mid-air explosion.
Meanwhile Toyota, the world’s top-selling carmaker, announced this week it would invest seven billion yen ($44 million) in Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies.
“The global demand for small satellite launches has surged nearly 20-fold, from 141 launches in 2016 to 2,860 in 2023,” driven by private space businesses, national security concerns and technological development, Interstellar said.
U.S. astronauts upbeat seven months into eight-day mission
THANKS TO BOEING
Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2025
Astronauts Butch Wilmore (far left) and Suni Williams (right), accompanied by astronauts Nick Hague and Don Pettit, on the International Space Station (ISS), January 8, 2025 (Handout)
Two U.S. astronauts who have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS) said Wednesday they have plenty of food, are not facing a laundry crisis, and don't yet feel like castaways.
Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and were due to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory.
But problems with the Starliner's propulsion system prompted NASA to change plans, with a return flight now scheduled for late March at the earliest.
Williams said spirits were still high despite the unexpectedly long stay in space.
"It's just been a joy to be working up here," he said during a call with NASA officials.
"It doesn't feel like we're cast away," he added. "Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago but we have a lot to do while we're up here."
Wilmore chuckled while offering reassurance about food supply.
"We are well fed," he said.
Laundry requirements are also not comparable to Earth, he explained.
"Clothes fit loosely up here. It's not like on Earth where you sweat and it gets bad. I mean, they fit loosely. So you can wear things honestly, for weeks at a time, and it doesn't bother you at all," he said.
After the propulsion problems developed, NASA ultimately decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home with the members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Crew-9's two astronauts arrived at the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all four to return home in February 2025.
But the return was postponed last month when NASA announced that Crew-10, which would relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no earlier than March 2025, and both teams would remain on board for a "handover period."
According to those timelines, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to spend more than nine months in space.
"When we get home, we'll have lots of stories to tell," Williams said.
cha-bs/des
© Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
January 9, 2025
Astronauts Butch Wilmore (far left) and Suni Williams (right), accompanied by astronauts Nick Hague and Don Pettit, on the International Space Station (ISS), January 8, 2025 (Handout)
Two U.S. astronauts who have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS) said Wednesday they have plenty of food, are not facing a laundry crisis, and don't yet feel like castaways.
Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and were due to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory.
But problems with the Starliner's propulsion system prompted NASA to change plans, with a return flight now scheduled for late March at the earliest.
Williams said spirits were still high despite the unexpectedly long stay in space.
"It's just been a joy to be working up here," he said during a call with NASA officials.
"It doesn't feel like we're cast away," he added. "Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago but we have a lot to do while we're up here."
Wilmore chuckled while offering reassurance about food supply.
"We are well fed," he said.
Laundry requirements are also not comparable to Earth, he explained.
"Clothes fit loosely up here. It's not like on Earth where you sweat and it gets bad. I mean, they fit loosely. So you can wear things honestly, for weeks at a time, and it doesn't bother you at all," he said.
After the propulsion problems developed, NASA ultimately decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home with the members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Crew-9's two astronauts arrived at the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all four to return home in February 2025.
But the return was postponed last month when NASA announced that Crew-10, which would relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no earlier than March 2025, and both teams would remain on board for a "handover period."
According to those timelines, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to spend more than nine months in space.
"When we get home, we'll have lots of stories to tell," Williams said.
cha-bs/des
© Agence France-Presse
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