Japan Abandons Plan for Moon Probe Landing
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Japan’s hopes of landing its mini probe on the Moon were dashed when the nation’s space agency was unable to establish communication with the device.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) last week sent the OMOTENASHI CubeSat into orbit aboard NASA’s SLS rocket, which launched the Artemis I mission’s Orion spacecraft.
Despite a successful separation from the rocket, OMOTENASHI’s solar cells failed to function as its body rotated away from the sun every four to five seconds—eight times faster than the assumed limit, according to Kyodo News(Opens in a new window).
“While the Moon landing objective of the mission was unable to be achieved, recovery operations will continue to perform radiation measurements outside the Earth’s magnetosphere, which is another mission that can be performed while the CubeSat is in flight, along with technology demonstrations other than the lunar landing,” JAXA says(Opens in a new window).
In the meantime, an OMOTENASHI response team plans to investigate the cause of the malfunction. Before launch, JAXA estimated a 60% chance of a successful lunar landing.
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As Space.com notes(Opens in a new window), 10 cubesats separated from Artemis 1, and the Japanese one was spotted on Sunday and Monday. There’s a chance to regain contact with OMOTENASHI in March when its solar cells will face the sun.
The 800 million yen ($5.6 million) OMOTENASHI probe measures 14.6 by 9.4 by 4.3 inches (HWD) and weighs about 28 pounds.
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