Arriving In Florida, Japanese Moon Explorer Will Take Off In January 2025

JAKARTA The lunar lander RESILIENCE developed by ispace has been in Florida. Now, the Japanese private space company is making final preparations before launch.

Based on the agreement with SpaceX, those who will launch RESILIENCE into space, this month's exploration mission will take place in January next year. However, this is still a temporary target because Japan has yet to determine the exact time.

Before arriving in Florida, RESILIENCE had undergone various tests at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Board (JAXA) facility located in Tsukuba, Japan. Although it has been tested, ispace wants to ensure that this vehicle is functioning optimally.

"We are pleased that the transport to the launch site in Florida has been completed successfully," said Space CEO Takeshi Hakamada. "We will continue to make final preparations until the day of launch, when the lander carrying so much hope will launch."

RESILIENCE is the second mission to be part of the HAKUTO-R program. This is the latest attempt to land an ispace-made rover on the Moon as the first mission, which was targeted to land in April last year, ended in a failure.

Initially, the HAKUTO-R launch went smoothly. However, as this spacecraft approaches the Moon, ispace technicians realized they had lost contact. Therefore, the Japanese company hopes that the launch this time will run smoothly.

"ReSILIENCE Mission 2 lander is the culmination of the HAKUTO-R program," Takeshi said. "The lander not only brought the cargo entrusted to us by customers, but also the joy of many stakeholders."

ispace also hopes that this mission can contribute to the Artemis mission, lunar exploration, initiated by NASA. Regardless of whether this mission will be successful or fail, ispace plans to carry out a third mission with a ride called APEX 1-0 by 2026.