The initiative comes from the Japanese company ispace. That launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the American aerospace company SpaceX on Sunday at Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying the company’s Hakuto-R lunar lander. It should land gently on the moon by the end of April, if everything goes as planned.
Ispace wants to be the first commercial company to land on the moon. So far, only the United States, Russia and China have succeeded. Attempts by Israel and India failed.
In the future, ispace wants to mine raw materials and water on the moon. That could help build a manned base on the moon. The Hakuto-R mission is intended to test the design and technology. To mine the moon, the Japanese work together with space agencies of the United States and Europe.
It is not certain whether the lander will actually be the first commercial device to arrive on the moon. The vessel takes a long detour. It will first go as far as 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, four times as far away as the moon, and would not land until the end of April. Next spring, two other commercial landers (Nova-C and Peregrine) will also go to the moon. It is not yet clear which of the three will arrive first.