Weather conditions prevented Japan from sending its first reconnaissance mission to the lunar surface.
According to the Ukrinform correspondent, Reuters writes about it.
“The Japanese space agency has delayed the scheduled launch of the H-IIA rocket with the lunar landing module into space on Monday,” the article says.
It was noted that the decision was taken 24 minutes before the scheduled launch time due to unstable winds in the upper atmosphere. “The rocket was carrying JAXA’s intelligent lunar reconnaissance lander, which will be the first Japanese spacecraft to land on the moon,” Reuters said.
The agency recalls that in April Japanese startup Ispace tried to send a probe to the moon, but the mission failed.
As Ukrinform reported, on August 23, India became the fourth country to successfully land the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon.
The mission has landed near the Moon’s south pole and will survey its surroundings for approximately one lunar day (about 14 Earth days). It transmitted to Earth the first experimental data on the temperature of the Moon’s surface on Sunday.