During the solar eclipse on April 20, a Japanese lunar lander was able to capture a glorious photo of the Earth. This was before it reached its eventual demise by smashing into the Moon's surface.
Snaps of Earth During Total Solar Eclipse
Space notes that the Solar Eclipse took place as the Moon passed over the Sun's face from the perspective of the Earth. This led to a shadowing effect.
The snap demonstrates a small black dot of the lunar shadow that crossed over Australia. The snap of Earth that the craft was able to take is likened to the Earthrise photo taken by the Apollo 8.
Wishing everyone a Happy Earth Day!
Today serves as a reminder of the importance of taking care of our planet. Here is an image looking back at the Earth, taken by our lander-mounted camera during HAKUTO-R Mission 1 at a distance of about 400,000 km. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/atyb6GY8b6— ispace (@ispace_inc) April 22, 2023
Hakuto-R: a Japanese Lunar Lander
Live Science reports that the Hakuto-R, a Japanese lunar lander, boarded the Space X Falcon 9 rocket last December. Its deployment was part of the private Mission 1 of ispace, a private space firm based in Tokyo.
According to Sky and Telescope, ispace designed the lander as part of the competition of Google Lunar X Prize for Moon landing. Despite the passing of the deadline, the lander saw continuous developments.
Initially, the craft was set to land on April 25. It made its close approach toward the Moon earlier this week. However, as it started descending, ground controllers lost touch of the craft. After several minutes passed, controllers of the missions concluded that the craft's landing did not take place as intended.
If the mission was successful, it could have been the first commercial spacecraft to land on the lunar surface. However, this was not the case as the Hakuto-R reportedly met its demise.
Takeshi Hakamada, the founder and CEO of ispace, explains how they needed to assume that the lunar landing was not completed. Further analysis later revealed that the craft could have ran out of propellant to control and slow down its descent,
Despite the loss of the craft due its landing, it was still able to meet eight out of ten mission goals, proving itself to be a valuable space exploration asset nonetheless.
Hakamada explains how proud they are that they were able to garner several achievements throughout the Mission 1. He adds that they will keep trying and will not quit the quest to the Moon, as reported by USA Today.
With this, the company is set on deploying another lander to the Moon. This may take place as soon as 2024.
Moon Ventures
While the Hakuto-R could have been the first commercial craft to land on the Moon, it is not the first commercial lunar venture.
Live Science notes that in 2019, the Beresheet probe smashed into the Moon's surface when gyroscope failure took place in its braking processes.
Currently, only crafts that were built by government agencies representing Russia, China, and the US were able to softly land on the Moon.
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