Tokyo company aims to be 1st business to put lander on moon

Good luck with that.

I don’t like all that money wasting and useless space exploration attempts. Don’t we have enough problems to solve here on Earth first? Anyway, they showed on TV the little toylike robot written above, and it was really cool and fun to watch when it crawled through some sandbox or so.

Not gonna happen

Good luck, but looking at how things are right now even India looks more likely to do it first.

This is outstanding news. This is exactly the pioneer spirit that made America the greatest nation on the planet. It will be good for the morale of other Japanese businesses. I think it will also be a message to the world that Japanese technology is the best in the world (behind that of U.S. military arms manufacturers). It would be fun if they play Ziggy Stardust's 'Star Man' while televising the launch. David loved Japan and is probably smiling down on the Land of the Rising Sun as you read this. Best of luck to the good folks at ispace.

They used a Space X rocket. Not sure this qualifies in the same league as "getting to the moon"...

Marc, you are being sarcastic, right?

JAXA keeps failing in its outer space endeavors

Maybe, North Korea could give a hand and give the Japanese some lessons?

Go for it!

you can’t own land on the moon unless you have a physical presence.

Ultimately this has not been massive news in Japan because as gogogo mentioned they launched off of a Space X rocket. The article mentions the U.S., China and Russia as the only 3 countries to land successfully on the Moon, it does not mention that they used their own rockets to get there and do it. It would like me saying that I climbed down from the top of Mt. Everest but never mentioning that I didn't climb to the top in the first place.

I don’t like all that money wasting and useless space exploration attempts. Don’t we have enough problems to solve here on Earth first? 

If you read an earlier article here on JT you would know the Earth will not be here forever. As the Sun fuses hydrogen into helium it will slowly increase in temperature and boil all the water off Earth, leaving it uninhabitable. Eventually the Sun will consume the last of its hydrogen and expand into a red giant with a diameter greater than the orbits of the inner planets.

Man has to become a multi planet species and it will. To do so interstellar flight must be mastered and that too is going to happen perhaps in the lifetime of my 8 1/2 year old. If not, then certainly during the lives of his children. Landing on the Moon and living there is the first necessary step. Because the Moon has low gravity, meaning you don't need as much thrust to launch things, it is an ideal place from which to launch missions to the far reaches of the universe.

Btw, this whole mission has been so low key this is the first time I became aware of it. Regardless of who's booster it used this is a really complex effort and I wish them well.

Xavier,

Thanks for the youtube link.

@ Marc Lowe

....exactly the pioneer spirit that made America the greatest nation on the planet. 

Wow. Seriously...?

I hope it succeeds. But how does this compare in difficulty to the Hayabusa projects where material was returned from an asteroid? I honestly don't know, but the image in my mind suggests the Hayabusa project was more difficult.

Very cool that the name Hakuto (白兎) - White Rabbit is inspired by the same mythology used by China to name it's Moon landers one of which is still in operation, Yutu (玉兔) - Jade Rabbit.

Nations should put aside their petty differences and work together for the peaceful exploration and development of space.

Seems they've landed but are still trying to establish the lander's status...

Well, they've hit the moon. We don't know whether it was a "landing" or an "unscheduled disassembly via impact" yet. The graphics shown live appear to be disconnected from reality and more about showing the plan, not reality.

Hopefully, they did land and a backup antenna was included that didn't have the connector vibrated off.

Eventually, a NASA spacecraft will take a photo of the landing/impact location.

I wonder if the Chinese moon lander "felt" any impact at the time.

In 2019, India attempted to land on the moon too. It was an "unscheduled disassembly via impact", unfortunately. Communications was lost at 2.1 km altitude. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/20/science/chandrayaan-2-moon-india.html

Go for it! Would be great for Japanese public relations.

"Desert TortoiseApr. 25 09:30 pm JST

I don’t like all that money wasting and useless space exploration attempts. Don’t we have enough problems to solve here on Earth first? 

If you read an earlier article here on JT you would know the Earth will not be here forever. As the Sun fuses hydrogen into helium it will slowly increase in temperature..."

Hey Tort, no criticism or sarcasm intended BUT, by the time that happens, the last scrap of Human concrete laid down by this current infestation of the extant, and now completely broken, ecosystem will have been ground down into its original dust a billion or two or five years previously and Mankind a distant discarded memory NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. The only thing that might remain is whatever AI may expand itself into if we are successful in giving birth to it in our time here. THAT will be our 'legacy', if we have any at all to offer, that we gave birth to True and pure Intelligence free of the psychopathy that condemns Homo demens to a well deserved extinction. If you would explore this idea, I would refer you to a 60+ year old short story by an amazingly prolific writer, Isaac Asimov, his short story "The Last Question", where he offers a possibility that you may not have considered but clearly defines the potential of True Intelligence. See: https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/thelastq.html

It was reported this morning it failed.

Desert TortoiseApr. 25  09:30 pm JST

If you read an earlier article here on JT you would know the Earth will not be here forever. As the Sun fuses hydrogen into helium it will slowly increase in temperature and boil all the water off Earth, leaving it uninhabitable. Eventually the Sun will consume the last of its hydrogen and expand into a red giant with a diameter greater than the orbits of the inner planets.

We were born on this planet so we stay until the end, no? Let us resolve the problems on this planet first before we bring them elsewhere. Many things to resolve here, and I am not sure your science is accurate. You sound like your saying very soon there will be no oceans due to, "the boiling of all the water off the Earth." I thought I heard everything.

Let us resolve the problems on this planet first before we bring them elsewhere.

Sometimes, we learn the most about ourselves by leaving. This has been something that international travel taught most people here, but it is also something that all parents of University students know - there's something that happens when their kids "go away to school" that teaches so much more about life and themselves than staying at home.

Space exploration works the same. Look up all the stuff that space research has provided to the world. Your everyday life has been drastically changed for the better by space research. It has connected the world together, especially for those parts of the world that are not rich. Or would you like to take all that away from the poor people of Earth?