Private Japanese moon lander arrives in Florida ahead of January SpaceX launch (photos)

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ispace engineers load the Mission 2 RESILIENCE lunar lander into a transport container in preparation for shipping to Florida. (Image credit: ispace)

Japanese space exploration firm ispace is preparing for a second attempt at landing on the moon.

The “Resilience” Mission 2 lander has arrived in Florida ahead of launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, ispace announced on Wednesday (Nov. 27). The mission will launch no earlier than January 2025, according to the company, which has not yet announced a precise launch target.

Mission 2 follows the company’s first attempt to land on the moon in April 2023. That mission ended in failure after an altitude sensor was confused by the unaccounted-for detection of a crater rim, leading ispace’s spacecraft to act as if it was closer to the lunar surface than it was.

The new lander — based on the previous Hakuto-R platform but with upgraded software — was transported via commercial cargo plane from a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) facility in Tsukuba, Japan, following testing.

Related: Private Japanese moon lander reaches lunar orbit

The Mission 2 RESILIENCE lunar lander is loaded onto a vehicle for shipping from Tsukuba to Narita Airport, Japan before being shipped by cargo plane to Florida. (Image credit: ispace)

The Resilience lander will also carry a small rover, named Tenacious , developed by ispace’s Luxembourg-based subsidiary.

“The Mission 2 Resilience lander is the culmination of the Hakuto-R program, incorporating the data and know-how gained from Mission 1,” said Takeshi Hakamada, ispace founder and CEO, in a statement . “We will continue to make final preparations until the day of the launch, when the lander, which carries so many hopes, will be launched.”

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The Mission 2 RESILIENCE lunar lander arrives and is offloaded from a vehicle in Florida. (Image credit: ispace)

Resilience will carry commercial and scientific payloads to the moon. The mission is also expected to contribute to the NASA -led Artemis program , according to ispace.

While there is a strong focus on the upcoming mission, ispace is working on a new, larger lander named APEX 1.0. It is … Read More