A computergenerated image of the micro rover that Japanese company ispace plans to launch to the Moon in 2024
The Japanese private spaceflight company ispace has unveiled a mini rover that will fly on its next Moon landing mission next year. The micro rover will launch in winter 2024 inside the payload bay at the top of ispace’s Mission 2 lander, if all goes according to plan. The rover is 26 centimetres (10.24 inches) tall, 31.5 centimetres (12.4 inches) wide and 54 centimetres (21.26 inches) long, and it will weigh about five kilograms. It will carry a forward-mounted high-definition camera, which it will use to take images of Moon dirt that it scoops up with a shovel.
“Continuous mission operations are essential to provide lunar transportation and data services, so I am pleased to announce the progress we have made on the Mission 2 lander flight model and the final design of the micro rover,” Takeshi Hakamada, ispace founder and CEO, said.