The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was unable to communicate with the OMOTENASHI device, therefore ending Japan’s ambitions of landing its Mini Expedition on the moon.
The OMOTENASHI Cube Satellite was launched together with NASA’s SLS rocket as part of the Artemis I Orion Spacecraft mission.
The CubeSat successfully separated from the rocket, however the device’s solar cells did not activate since the body moved away from the Sun.
“While the Moon landing objective of the mission was unable to be achieved, recovery operations will continue to perform radiation measurements outside the Earth’s magnetosphere, which is another mission that can be performed while the CubeSat is in flight, along with technology demonstrations other than the lunar landing,” JAXA say
As per JAXA, the OMOTENASHI mission has a 60% chance of success landing on the moon, but it may not happen until it regains contact, possibly in March when its solar cells face the sun.
