A Japanese startup company has launched a spacecraft to the moon after several delays, a step toward what would be a first for the nation and for a private company.
Tokyo-based ispace Inc's HAKUTO-R mission took off without incident on Sunday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, after two postponements caused by inspections of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
More than a hundred people at a viewing party in Tokyo roared in applause when the rocket fired and lifted into the dark skies.
"I'm so happy. After repeated delays, it's good that we had a proper launch today," Yuriko Takeda, who watched the launch, said.
"I have this image of the American flag from the Apollo landing, so while this is just the launch, the fact that it's a private company going there with a rover is a really meaningful step."
The national space agencies of the United States, Russia and China have achieved soft landings but no companies have.
A successful mission would also be a milestone in space cooperation between Japan and the US at a time when China is becoming increasingly competitive and rides on Russian rockets are no longer available in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
The name HAKUTO refers to the white rabbit that lives on the moon in Japanese folklore, in contrast to the Western idea of a man on the moon.
The project was a finalist in the Google Lunar XPRIZE before being revived as a commercial venture.
The ispace craft aims to put a small NASA satellite into lunar orbit to search for water deposits before touching down in the Atlas Crater.
The M1 lander will deploy two robotic rovers, a two-wheeled, baseball-sized device from Japan's JAXA space agency and the four-wheeled Rashid explorer made by the United Arab Emirates.
It will also be carrying an experimental solid-state battery made by NGK Spark Plug Co.
"The Rashid rover is part of the United Arab Emirates ambitious space programme," United Arab Emirates vice president Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said.
"Our aim is knowledge transfer and developing our capabilities and to add a scientific imprint in the history of humanity."
Privately funded ispace has a contract with NASA to ferry payloads to the moon from 2025 and is aiming to build a permanently staffed lunar colony by 2040.
Reuters
