Japan space agency gives up on landing Moon probe
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the Omotenashi lander could not receive transmissions from Earth to correct its trajectory and position, as its solar cells kept facing away from the sun. Attempts to correct its position and orbit were also unsuccessful, the agency said.
Tatsuaki Hashimoto, a professor at JAXA, called the development a «failure beyond failure» at a press conference following the decision to forgo the moon landing.
Development costs for the probe were 800 million yen ($5.6 million), he said.
JAXA hoped the box-shaped lander, measuring 11 centimeters in length, 24 cm in width, and 37 cm in height and weighing 12.6 kilograms, would have become the country's first probe to land on the lunar surface.
The Omotenashi, touted as the world's smallest lunar lander, was launched Wednesday from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the U.S. megarocket Space Launch System.
After the launch, the lander was successfully separated from the rocket and started to travel toward the Moon.
But its solar cells failed to function as its body rotated away from the sun once every four to five seconds, which is eight times faster than the assumed limit.
Waiting until the solar cells recovered on Tuesday or later would have meant losing the opportunity to enter a lunar orbit and land on the Moon, the agency said.
Photo: english.kyodonews.net
