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TOKYO, Apr 12 The Japanese module will land on the moon on April 26 at 1.40 am (April 25 19.40 Moscow time), ispace, the company implementing the project, announced.
«At the moment of April 12, the module is in orbit at the nearest point to the surface of the Moon 100 kilometers, at the far point — 2.3 thousand kilometers. After that … the module will be launched into a circular orbit with a height of 100 kilometers from the surface of the Moon. Then 26 April at 0.46 (April 25, 18.46 Moscow time) it will begin to descend from orbit and take up position for landing. Then, in the auto-steer mode, reverse thrust will be turned on and an effective decrease in orbital speed will begin, after which a soft landing on the moon will be made in about an hour, «says in the message.
Japan's first lunar lander was launched on Dec. 11 from Cape Canaveral by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Prior to this, the launch was postponed several times for technical reasons by SpaceX. The module should be the first part of the Hakuto-R lunar project, which is carried out by the private company ispace. The lunar module should be the first such Japanese device. -1864791259.html» data-title=»Cosmonaut Skripochka explained why the exploration of the Moon is necessary»>