Author Topic: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)  (Read 81220 times)

Online FutureSpaceTourist

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ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« on: 12/13/2017 05:19 am »
ispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company that is a Goigle Lunar X Prize competitor and has just announced $90M in series A funding:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/ispace-announces--series-a-funding.html

See also: https://ispace-inc.com & attached company press release
« Last Edit: 07/20/2021 01:48 pm by gongora »

Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #1 on: 12/13/2017 05:20 am »


Quote
Published on 12 Dec 2017
Imagine the Moon supporting construction, energy, steel procurement, communications, transportation, agriculture, medicine, and tourism…

We believe that by 2040 the Moon will support a population of 1,000, with 10,000 people visiting every year.

ispace will be instrumental in supporting life on Earth through space-based infrastructure.

For more information, please visit: http://ispace-inc.com/

Offline Lar

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #2 on: 12/13/2017 07:10 am »
ispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company that is a Goigle Lunar X Prize competitor and has just announced $90M in series A funding:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/ispace-announces--series-a-funding.html

See also: https://ispace-inc.com & attached company press release

A bit late for funding if it's to complete their entry, but if it's to pay for the launch, awesome news! (the number does seem about right if it's a dedicated launch)
« Last Edit: 12/13/2017 07:12 am by Lar »
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Online TrevorMonty

Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #3 on: 12/13/2017 07:22 am »
Developing ultra small rovers with 30kg payload lander around 2021. No mention of LV, Electron probably to small but LauncherOne and Firefly's 1000kg should be right size.


Offline Xentry

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #4 on: 12/13/2017 09:57 pm »
Developing ultra small rovers with 30kg payload lander around 2021. No mention of LV, Electron probably to small but LauncherOne and Firefly's 1000kg should be right size.
Or maybe they'll go for a shared launch in an existing vehicle...

Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #5 on: 12/14/2017 09:18 am »
Developing ultra small rovers with 30kg payload lander around 2021. No mention of LV, Electron probably to small but LauncherOne and Firefly's 1000kg should be right size.
Or maybe they'll go for a shared launch in an existing vehicle...

Quote
Work on the lander started early this year, Hakamada said. The lander should go through two key development milestones, a preliminary design review followed by a critical design review, next year. He said the company is in discussions to launch the spacecraft as secondary payloads on vehicles like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

http://spacenews.com/japanese-lunar-exploration-company-ispace-raises-90-million/

It seems you're correct.

Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #6 on: 12/18/2017 10:44 am »
A couple of short new promo videos




Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #7 on: 09/26/2018 06:33 am »



Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #8 on: 09/26/2018 07:03 am »
https://ispace-inc.com/news/?p=713

Lunar Exploration Startup, ispace, Partners with SpaceX for 2020 & 2021 Moon Missions
26 Sep, 2018

ispace’s Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Reboots as “HAKUTO-R”, Releases New Spacecraft Designs

TOKYO – September 26, 2018 – ispace, a company developing robotics for lunar delivery and resource exploration, announced today that SpaceX will be the launch provider for its maiden voyages to the Moon scheduled for 2020 and 2021. The company’s first two lunar missions will be carried out under the program name HAKUTO-R, standing for “Reboot”, a reference to ispace’s management of HAKUTO, a Google Lunar XPRIZE competition finalist.

ispace contracted with SpaceX to carry its spacecraft—its Lunar Lander and Lunar Rovers—as secondary payloads on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Launches for the first and second missions for the HAKUTO-R program will occur in mid-2020 and mid-2021, respectively. ispace is the first lunar exploration company to purchase multiple launches.

■ Takeshi Hakamada, ispace Founder & CEO: “We share the vision with SpaceX of enabling humans to live in space, so we’re very glad they will join us in this first step of our journey.”

■ Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President & COO: “We are entering a new era in space exploration and SpaceX is proud to have been selected by ispace to launch their first lunar missions. We are looking forward to delivering their innovative spacecraft to the Moon.”

The decision to bring back the “HAKUTO” name—meaning “white rabbit” in Japanese, based on local folklore about a rabbit on the Moon—comes 6 months after the  Google Lunar XPRIZE ended. The HAKUTO-R program will be a technology demonstration for ispace. Success criteria for Mission 1 has been defined as an orbit around the Moon, while Mission 2 will perform a soft lunar landing and deployment of rovers to collect data from the lunar surface.

ispace released the latest designs of its spacecraft following the successful completion of a Preliminary Design Review (PDR), in which a panel of 26 external experts from Japan, Europe, and the US—including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—reviewed both technical and programmatic status of HAKUTO-R. Key feedback from the PDR Board Report concluded that the PDR of the lunar orbit mission is “successful pending closure of key actions” and all aspects of the design were found to be feasible.

PDR Reviewer Feedback

■ Yasufumi Wakabayashi, a 40-year career veteran and retired supervisor for spaceflight technology at JAXA: “ispace is working on space development with a solid environment, gathering a considerable level of talent.”

■ Martin Riehle, Orbital Propulsion Expert & Technical Authority, Ariane Group: “When looking on schedule, price and effort, the approach that ispace is following is much more lean and efficient [than ESA or NASA]. So far, I absolutely can underline that you’re on track for success.”
« Last Edit: 09/26/2018 07:11 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline gongora

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #9 on: 09/26/2018 03:29 pm »
Japanese company ispace selects SpaceX for lunar missions
Quote
The first HAKUTO-R mission will place a spacecraft with a total mass, fully fueled, of 550 kilograms into orbit around the moon. The second mission will be a lander, weighing 1,400 kilograms, including a small rover. Both are intended to demonstrate ispace’s capabilities in delivering payloads to the moon for future commercial customers.

The press release and Space News story differ on some details.

Offline gongora

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #10 on: 09/26/2018 05:20 pm »
Japanese company ispace says it will launch two missions to the Moon in 2020 and 2021
Quote
But before the lunar lander and rovers make it to the Moon, ispace will try to demonstrate that it can put a spacecraft into lunar orbit. That vehicle, if successfully inserted, will remain in orbit for one to two months, testing out navigational cameras that ispace plans to use for the lander and rover mission. It will also take images of the lunar surface and send those images down to Earth.

There was a press conference after the original press release, that's where the information about the orbiter on the first mission came from.

Offline wannamoonbase

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #11 on: 09/26/2018 06:48 pm »
This is super exciting.  I'm more than willing to accept a pico-rover footage.

Can't wait
Wildly optimistic prediction, Superheavy recovery on IFT-4 or IFT-5

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #12 on: 09/26/2018 06:58 pm »
The video of the rovers on the surface show the smaller rover on a tether dropping into (or at least driving towards) a deep pit.  This concept is borrowed from the earlier Hakuto plan to fly rovers on Astrobotic's mission to a pit in Lacus Mortis.  It will be interesting to see if this is still the target landing site.   

Offline QuantumG

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #13 on: 09/26/2018 11:06 pm »
I really do hope they fly and wish them the best of luck.



Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #14 on: 09/26/2018 11:26 pm »
https://pets-animals.blurtit.com/2095729/is-there-any-rabbit-in-the-moon

Linking to a different interpretation of the rabbit.  I like it because it uses Mare Crisium as the rabbit's tail.  There are othr ways of making the picture fit as well.  I find it interesting that the same moon rabbit motif is found in mesoamerican folklore as well. 




Offline Comet

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Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #15 on: 09/27/2018 08:17 am »

Online Chris Bergin

Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #16 on: 10/07/2018 04:27 pm »
OK - we want to cover this more in depth via an article already written by Thomas. If anyone is involved, or can help, please message me.
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Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Offline Tywin

Re: ispace (Japan) Lunar Landers (HAKUTO-R)
« Reply #19 on: 03/08/2019 01:23 pm »
Agreement with Mitsui Sumitomo:

Quote
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (“MSI”), a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.  based in Tokyo, Japan, and lunar exploration company, ispace, inc. (“ispace”), announced today that MSI has become a Corporate Partner of HAKUTO-R, the world’s first commercial lunar exploration program.

As part of the partnership, the two organizations also announced plans to cooperate on the development of a lunar insurance service. The lunar surface is a region with many factors still unknown to humanity; as such, many new risks are to be expected. In order to overcome such risks and to progress toward future missions, MSI and ispace will work together to create a coverage for companies and individuals that will mitigate the risks of lunar exploration and support the sustainable development of a lunar economy.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/03/07/mitsui-sumitomo-insurance-corporate-partner-ispaces-hakutor-lunar-program/
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