Latest news with #ispace
Nikkei Asia
a day ago
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
South Korea votes, Switch 2 launch, ispace's second moonshot
Welcome to Your Week in Asia. After months of political upheaval, voters in South Korea will be looking ahead to a hopefully calmer era when they go to the polls in a presidential election on Tuesday, even as many issues and challenges remain. Also this week, the stakes are high for video gaming giant Nintendo as it releases the long-awaited successor to its blockbuster Switch console. Get the best of our coverage of Asia and much more by following us on X, @NikkeiAsia. We are also now on Bluesky. Our handle is @ SUNDAY Thailand begins Pride month Bangkok will host its first Pride parade since Thailand's same-sex marriage law took effect on Jan. 23. The subsequent month of festivities in the capital and beyond is expected to boost both tourism and retail. TUESDAY South Korea chooses next president South Koreans will vote in a snap election, hoping to settle a chaotic six months sparked by now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law. Polls show left-leaning candidate Lee Jae-myung has a comfortable lead in the race to become president. Voters are seeking a leader who can inject life into the sluggish economy and restore order to the nation's politics. BOJ governor speaks amid bond market jitters Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda will speak at a meeting held by research institute Naigai Josei Chosa Kai, while his deputy, Shinichi Uchida, is set to address the Japan Society of Monetary Economics on Saturday. Market participants will be watching closely amid turbulence in the bond market, dissecting the officials' speeches for any policy hints ahead of the BOJ's next meeting, when it will release an interim assessment of a planned reduction in government bond purchases. WEDNESDAY Tiananmen Square protests anniversary Wednesday marks 36 years since the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989, with memorials expected in Taiwan and elsewhere. In Hong Kong, the candlelight vigil at the city's Victoria Park, which used to attract thousands of citizens before the imposition of a national security law in 2020, will not be held. THURSDAY Nintendo launches the Switch 2 Japan's Nintendo launches the eagerly anticipated successor to the smash-hit Switch console, which started selling in 2017. The Switch 2 has a larger screen, a new controller and added features such as a voice chat function. Nintendo expects to shift 15 million units in the financial year ending next March. U.S. trade figures The United States will publish its foreign trade data for April, when U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on nearly all trading partners. Trade figures with Asian countries are expected to have slumped despite a 90-day pause on most tariff rates. Data: Philippines inflation, Singapore retail sales index FRIDAY Japan's ispace makes second moon-landing attempt Japanese startup ispace will make a second attempt at a soft landing on the moon, aiming to become the first Asian private company to achieve such a feat. Its first attempt, in April 2023, ended with the lander crashing into the lunar surface. Reserve Bank of India meets The Reserve Bank of India is expected to reduce interest rates for a third consecutive policy meeting, with inflation remaining below the central bank's target. Slowing economic growth is viewed as increasing the likelihood of a cut. Data: Vietnam trade, foreign direct investment and inflation SATURDAY Prabowo heads to Russia Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to visit Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. He will also attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as a keynote speaker. Prior to taking office in October 2024, Prabowo visited the Russian capital as Indonesia's minister of defense and president-elect.
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
ispace Completes Success 8 of Mission 2 Milestones
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that the RESILIENCE lunar lander has successfully completed all orbital maneuvers while in lunar orbit and is now being prepared for its landing attempt on June 6, 2025. This marks the completion of Success 8 milestone of Mission 2 'SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon.' RESILIENCE conducted a lunar orbital control maneuver at 5:27 p.m. JST (08:27 UTC) on May 28, 2025, to move into a circular orbit around the Moon in accordance with the mission operation plan. The operation required an engine burn of approximately 10 minutes, the longest to date on Mission 2. Since then, the lander has been in a 100 km orbit around the Moon and completes a full orbit every 2 hours. After RESILIENCE completed the orbital control maneuver, ispace engineers in the Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan worked to confirm the precise orbit in advance of the landing sequence. The RESILIENCE lander, which reached lunar orbit on May 7, 2025 (JST), orbited the moon in an elliptical orbit with a perilune (closest point to the moon) altitude of approximately 70 km and an apolune (farthest point from the moon) altitude of approximately 5,800 km. After performing three orbital control maneuvers, it reached a circular orbit around the moon at an altitude of approximately 100 km. A lunar landing is scheduled for no earlier than June 5, 2025 (UTC) (June 6, 2025, JST). The RESILIENCE lander is scheduled to begin descent from its current circular orbit. During the descent phase, the lander will automatically fire its main propulsion system to gradually decelerate and adjust its attitude, with the goal of achieving a soft landing on the lunar surface. 'Having completed eight of 10 mission milestones, RESILIENCE is now ready to attempt a historic landing on the Moon, carrying not only the payloads of our customers but also the hopes of our employees, their families, our partners and all of our supporters,' said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. 'We have leveraged the operational experience gained in Mission 1 and during this current voyage to the Moon, and we are confident in our preparations for success of the lunar landing.' LANDING EVENT LIVE STREAM DETAILS ispace will host a global live stream event with coverage of RESILIENCE's landing attempt on the Moon on June 6, 2025 (JST) (June 5, 2025, depending on location). The coverage will be broadcast in Japanese with English translation provided. Please see links below to watch. Before the lunar orbit insertion, RESILIENCE completed all deep space orbital maneuvers on April 24, 2025, at 10:00 UTC, returning the lander from deep space near to the Moon to complete the orbit injection. At its furthest distance, RESILIENCE was 1.1 million kilometers from Earth. Before that, RESILIENCE completed a lunar flyby, verifying operation of the main propulsion system, as well as the related guidance, control, and navigation system. Following the flyby, the lander continued its deep space journey, spending approximately two months in a low-energy transfer orbit. RESILIENCE was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11:39 UTC, Jan. 15, 2025, and was successfully deployed from the rocket at 7:44:24 UTC. The RESILIENCE lander has completed the Earth orbit as well as the lunar flyby, known as Success 5. It has completed the low energy transfer orbit with completion of all deep space and lunar orbit maneuvers is preparing for the landing sequence. Mission 2 Milestones ispace has released a transparent set of criteria known as Mission 2 Milestones between launch and landing and aims to achieve the success criteria established for each of these milestones. The results from this mission as part of the HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program, will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and lessons learned will be incorporated into future missions already in development. Mission 2 Payloads On board the RESILIENCE lunar lander are commercial customer payloads including: Water electrolyzer equipment: From Takasago Thermal Engineering Co. Food production experiment: A self-contained module from Euglena Co. Deep space radiation probe: Developed by the Department of Space Science and Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan Commemorative alloy plate: Developed by Bandai Namco Research Institute, Inc. and modeled after 'Charter of the Universal Century' from the animation Mobile Suit Gundam UC TENACIOUS micro rover: Developed by ispace-EUROPE, this rover will explore the landing site, collect lunar regolith, and relay data back to the lander. It will be equipped with a forward-mounted HD camera and a shovel. Moonhouse: A model house by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg that will be mounted on the rover. The RESILIENCE lander will serve as a cultural artifact, carrying a UNESCO memory disk that preserves linguistic and cultural diversity. ispace is leveraging its global presence through its three business units in Japan, the U.S., and Luxembourg, for the simultaneous development of upcoming missions. Mission 2, featuring the RESILIENCE lunar lander, is led by ispace Japan and was launched on Jan. 15, 2025. It is currently scheduled to land on the Moon on June 6, 2025 (JST). During the mission, the TENACIOUS micro rover, developed by ispace Europe SA, is set to be deployed on the lunar surface to conduct a technological demonstration of regolith extraction as well as mobility on the lunar surface. Team Draper Commercial Mission 1 is also known as ispace's Mission 3. Mission 3, debuting the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, is expected to launch in 2027. The company's fourth mission, which will utilize the Series 3 lander, currently being designed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched by 2027. About ispace, inc. ( ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, 'Expand our planet. Expand our future.', specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Private spacecraft circling moon snaps photo with strange optical illusion
A Japanese commercial spacecraft has sent home another close-up image of the moon, its intended landing destination in a matter of days, but this picture can play tricks on the eyes. Tokyo company ispace released a fresh photo from its lunar lander Resilience as it orbits the moon. The snapshot reveals the rugged landscape of the lunar south pole, a highly sought region by NASA and other spacefaring competitors because of its ice within permanently shadowed craters. That ice could be a valuable commodity for future space voyages if it can be converted into rocket fuel, oxygen, and drinking water. But some viewers may not see the pictured craters denting the surface as they are. "This image presents an optical illusion to some," the company said in a post on X. "Although the image is filled with concave craters, from this orientation they may look like they are convex to the eye." SEE ALSO: NASA astronauts are proud bedwetters. They even practice. Engineers for ispace load the Resilience lunar lander into a transport container before shipping it to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Credit: ispace Make no mistake: Those are hollowed out dips, not bumps. The reason they may appear as the latter, though, is a relief inversion phenomenon — a common problem when interpreting spacecraft photography. Astronomers have even coined names for it, calling it the "crater illusion" or "crater-dome illusion." "Upon first glance, it is difficult to tell if ground is rising up, sinking down, or a mix of both," according to the European Space Agency. The optical illusion occurs because people are used to interpreting shadows as coming from an overhead light source. But that's not necessarily the orientation of spacecraft. In many satellite photos, the light source is almost horizontal to the surface. That makes it easy for the patterns of light and shade to fool our brains. Where sunlight illuminates south-facing slopes and leaves northern slopes in shadow, for instance, many viewers experience the issue, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. For that reason, astronomers often orient satellite images so that north is up. Four months after Resilience's mid-January launch, it reached the moon and has flown laps around it since in preparation for ispace's second attempt at a lunar landing. The company's first try two years ago failed when its spacecraft ran out of fuel and crashed on the moon. The new mission, dubbed Hakuto-R, is gearing up for a touchdown near the center of Mare Frigoris at 3:24 p.m. ET on June 5. (It will be June 6 in Japan.) Livestream coverage will begin about one hour earlier, at 2:15 p.m. ET, with English translation. If the Hakuto-R mission aces the landing, it will spend two weeks running experiments on the lunar surface before powering down for the brutally cold lunar night. Credit: ispace infographic Landing on the moon remains onerous — demonstrated by numerous flopped landings. Though Firefly Aerospace succeeded in landing in March, another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, didn't fare as well, ending up on its side in a crater less than a week later. The difficulty arises from the moon's exosphere, which provides virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. What's more, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot. Engineers have to compensate for those challenges from 239,000 miles away. Whether ispace is better positioned for success this time remains to be seen. For now, flight controllers are enjoying the spacecraft's scenery. And for those who are having trouble appreciating the moon's southern craters in the new image, ispace has a tip. "Flip the image," the company said, "or tilt your head to change your perspective!"
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Japan's Resilience moon lander arrives in lunar orbit ahead of June 5 touchdown
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A private Japanese lunar lander is now in orbit around the moon. The Resilience spacecraft, which was built by the Tokyo-based company ispace, arrived at the moon on schedule Tuesday (May 6), keeping it on target for a historic touchdown try a month from now. "First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that the Resilience lander successfully reached lunar orbit as planned today," Takeshi Hakamada, ispace's founder and CEO, said in a statement. "We will continue to proceed with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing." Resilience launched Jan. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with another private moon lander — Blue Ghost, which was built and operated by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace. Blue Ghost took a more direct route to the moon, arriving in lunar orbit on Feb. 13 and touching down on Earth's nearest neighbor on March 2. That was a historic moment; Blue Ghost became just the second private spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, after Intuitive Machines' Odysseus craft in February 2024. Resilience, by contrast, took its time, taking a low-energy, fuel-conserving path that featured a close lunar flyby on Feb. 14. Related stories: — What's flying to the moon on ispace's Resilience lunar lander? — Japan's Resilience moon lander spots Point Nemo, Earth's remote spacecraft graveyard, from orbit (photo) — Japan's Resilience moon lander aces lunar flyby ahead of historic touchdown try (photo) If all goes according to plan, Resilience will touch down on June 5 within Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold"), a basaltic plain in the moon's northern hemisphere. A successful landing would be the second for Japan, whose national space agency put a spacecraft called SLIM ("Smart Lander for Investigating Moon') down in January 2024. Resilience is carrying five science and tech payloads. One of them is a miniature rover named Tenacious, which was built by ispace's Luxembourg-based subsidiary. Tenacious will collect some moon dirt under a contract with NASA. And the little rover is carrying a payload of its own — "Moonhouse," a project by artist Mikael Genberg, which sits on Tenacious' front bumper. The June 5 landing try will be the second for ispace, which aims to help open the moon for further exploration and resource exploitation. The company's first lunar lander successfully reached orbit in March 2023 but failed during its touchdown try that April.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Private Japanese moon probe snaps photo of lunar south pole ahead of June 5 landing
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Japan's private Resilience lunar lander has given us a nice shot of the moon just two weeks before its historic touchdown attempt. On Thursday morning (May 22), the Tokyo-based company ispace, which built and operates Resilience, shared a photo on X that the probe took of the moon's south polar region. "Resilience snapped this photo of the moon's south pole from lunar orbit, capturing the rough terrain of the many geological features of the lunar surface (which some say look like cheese from afar!). This image presents an optical illusion to some — although the image is filled with concave craters, from this orientation they may look like they are convex to the eye. What do you see: craters or bumps?" ispace wrote in the X post. Resilience launched on Jan. 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that also carried another private moon lander: Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost. Blue Ghost touched down on March 2, becoming just the second-ever commercial vehicle to soft-land successfully on the moon. (The first was Intuitive Machines' Odysseus spacecraft that touched down on the lunar surface in February of 2024.) Resilience — ispace's second-ever moon lander — took a longer, looping, energy-efficient route to Earth's nearest neighbor, finally arriving in lunar orbit on May 6. The Japanese lander is scheduled to touch down on June 5 in Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold"), a volcanic plain in the moon's northern hemisphere. Success would be huge for ispace and for Japan; the nation has just one moon landing under its belt, that of the SLIM ("Smart Lander for Investigating Moon') spacecraft that landed in January 2024. (SLIM was operated by JAXA, Japan's national space agency.) ispace came close to notching that milestone: Its first moon lander reached orbit successfully in March of 2023, but failed during its touchdown try a month later after getting confused by the rim of a crater. Related stories: — What's flying to the moon on ispace's Resilience lunar lander? — Japan's Resilience moon lander aces lunar flyby ahead of historic touchdown try (photo) — Japan's Resilience moon lander arrives in lunar orbit ahead of June 5 touchdown Resilience is carrying five science and technology payloads to the moon, including a miniature rover named Tenacious. The little wheeled robot, which was built by ispace's European subsidiary, will attempt to collect moon dirt under a contract that signed with NASA in 2020. Tenacious is also carrying some art on its front bumper — a piece called "Moonhouse" by Sweden's Mikael Genberg.
