“Hakuto-R Lander Attempts Historic Private Lunar Landing on the Moon: How to Watch Live”

The Hakuto-R lander, from the Japanese ispace, will try to land on the lunar surface on Tuesday (25). If all goes well, it will become the first private spacecraft to land on the Moon, and it will also add Japan to the short list of countries that managed to descend their ships to our natural satellite; so far, only China, the Soviet Union and the United States have achieved the feat.

The primary site for the landing attempt is Atlas Crater, a feature nearly 90 km in diameter located in the outer region of Mare Frigoris, in the lunar far north. If conditions require a change in landing site, ispace has three other alternatives; if you continue with any of them, the landing will take place on April 26, May 1 or 3.

To descend to the lunar surface, Hakuto-R will need to perform a sequence of steps that should take an hour to complete. The first of these is the activation of its engines for braking and deceleration in orbit; then, with a series of pre-set commands, it will adjust its direction and reduce speed for a smooth landing on the moon.

Launched in 2022 through the M1 mission (acronym for “Mission 1”), Hakuto-R is orbiting the Moon on a trajectory that allows it to stay 100 km from the surface. Since its insertion into the orbit of our natural satellite, it has sent beautiful photos taken from space – the most recent of which shows the Earth “rising” behind the Moon during the hybrid solar eclipse, which occurred on the 20th.

Inside, the lander carries the Rashid rover, from the United Arab Emirates space agency. It has an artificial intelligence system and cameras developed by Canadian companies and, if the lander lands, the rover will look for minerals and compounds of interest on the lunar surface.

How to watch the Hakuto-R landing live

The landing attempt of the Hakuto-R lander is scheduled to take place at 2:40 pm, Brasília time. ispace will broadcast the action from 12h on its YouTube channel. You can follow along in the video below:

Source: ispace