TOKYO: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has given no new launch date for the mission, which comes after India successfully landed a probe on the moon last week.
Japan’s space agency postponed the launch of its “Moon Sniper” lunar mission for the third time due to bad weather conditions on Monday.
The H2-A rocket, which was to launch from the southern island of Tanegashima, also carried a research satellite developed in collaboration with NASA and the European Space Agency.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has not given any new launch date for the mission, which comes after India successfully landed a probe on the moon last week.
MHI Launch Services, the rocket’s co-developer, said on social media platform X that the mission was called off “because it was confirmed that the upper wind did not meet the launch constraints”.
明日の打上げのために射点へ向けて姿を現したコア機体の段間部に貼られたH-IIA47号機アトム応援プロジェクトのデカルにご注目ください。#H2AF47 #XRIMS #SLIM #鉄腕アトム pic.twitter.com/KQfaVLLRWz
— MHI Launch Services (@MHI_LS) August 27, 2023
Last week, India landed a craft near the moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the country and its low-cost space program.
Previously, only the United States, Russia, and China had succeeded in placing a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none at the South Pole.
India’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same area and four years after India’s previous attempt failed at the last minute.
Japan had also previously attempted to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carrying NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission failed and communications were lost.
In April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the moon, losing communications after what the firm called a “hard landing”.
The “lunar sniper” is so called because JAXA intends to land within 100 meters (330 feet) of a specific target on the moon, much less than the usual range of several kilometers.
Japan has also had problems with its launchers, with failures following the launch of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon in October the previous year.
