ispace confirms completion of initial critical operation of lunar lander

The lunar exploration company says there are no deficiencies in the lander's core systems

A Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 12 Dec 2022, 11:17 PM

ispace, a global lunar exploration company, announced on Sunday that it was able to successfully establish a stable attitude for its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander, as well as confirm stable power supply in orbit. It was further confirmed that there were no deficiencies in the lander's core systems, and that initial critical operational conditions were achieved.

The Series 1 Lander used for "HAKUTO-R" Mission 1 was successfully launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and inserted into its scheduled orbit.

After separation, ispace’s Mission Control Centre successfully established the following items:

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Stable communications with the spacecraft.

Stable attitude of the lander.

Stable power supply in orbit.

Confirmation that there were no deficiencies in the lander's core systems.

Confirmed the completion of initial critical operational conditions.

After a final check-out of customer payloads, Success 3 of the mission milestones will be achieved. ispace will share updates on HAKUTO-R Mission 1 as they become available.

Mission 1 milestones

For Mission 1, ispace has set 10 milestones between launch and landing, and aims to achieve the success criteria established for each of these milestones. Recognising the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025. Mission 2 and Mission 3, which also will contribute to Nasa’s Artemis Programme, will further improve the maturity of ispace’s technology and business model. Future announcements on progress of milestone achievement are expected to be released once attained.