Tokyo Company Aims to Be 1st Business to Put Lander on Moon
. The company plans to use a rocket to land two rovers on the moon in 2019 and collect lunar samples to bring back to Earth. A Japanese company is planning to land two rovers on the moon in 2019 in order to collect lunar samples. This would be the first time a private business has attempted such
A Japanese company will attempt to do what no private business before it has ever done: land the moon.
Tokyo's ispace firm launched its own spacecraft around the moon one month ago. Flight controllers will guide the Hakuto spacecraft, which is named after the Japanese word for white rabbit. It will land on Tuesday from a height of 60 miles (100 km).
The 7-foot lander carries a mini lunar robot for the United Arab Emirates, and a toylike Japanese robot designed to roll in the dust of the moon.
Hakuto, after its liftoff in December, took a long and roundabout journey to the Moon, sending back images of Earth on the way.
Only three governments have successfully land on the Moon: Russia, China and the United States. In 2019, an Israeli non-profit tried to land on moon, but the spacecraft it used was destroyed by impact.
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