The second lunar lander from Japanese space exploration company ispace snapped a stunning image of the Earth as it prepares for its journey to the moon.
ispace's Resilience lander launched on Jan. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, sharing the ride with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander. Resilience is still in orbit around the Earth and is gradually raising its orbit ready to shoot for the moon. The lander's energy-efficient path will see Resilience attempt to set down in Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold") in the northern hemisphere of the moon in around four months from now.
In an update on Jan. 29, ispace said Resilience is in excellent health and continuing its journey in Earth orbit. What's more, the spacecraft has returned a stark image of our home planet from a unique perspective, showing the most remote area of the Earth.
"Resilience knows what it means to be alone in the vastness of space," an ispace post on social media X stated. "Looking back at Earth on Jan. 25, 2025, the lander was about 10,000km [6,000 miles] from our Blue Marble, poignantly capturing Point Nemo, the most remote place on our planet, about 2,688 kilometers [1,670 miles] from the nearest land."
The RESILIENCE lander remains in excellent health as it continues to orbit Earth in its planned trajectory towards the Moon!RESILIENCE knows what it means to be alone in the vastness of space. Looking back at Earth on Jan. 25, 2025, the lander was about 10,000km from our Blue… pic.twitter.com/ruexjmUDoTJanuary 29, 2025
Resilience is based on ispace's Hakuto-R solar-powered lander platform. It is similar to the first lander which made a failed landing attempt in April 2023, but features upgraded software to overcome sensor issues. It carries a range of commercial and science payloads, as well as a microrover, named Tenacious. The compact 11 pounds (5 kilograms) mobile spacecraft will collect samples with a small shovel and analyze these with an imaging camera.
While Resilience and Blue Ghost are in orbit and preparing to leave for the moon, another lunar lander — Intuitive Machines' IM-2, or Athena — recently arrived at Cape Canaveral to loaded atop of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, ready for a launch window opening no earlier than Feb. 26.
Resilience itself will also take onboard lessons from ispace's first lunar landing attempt, which crashed into the moon in April 2023, due to an onboard altitude sensor being confused by the rim of a crater
The company is also building a larger lander, named Apex 1.0. Its first outing will be ispace's Mission 3, expected to launch around 2026.
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