The Falcon 9 rocket launched into space a lander carrying a small lunar rover, a memory disk with recordings in 275 languages, and the most amusing payload was a miniature art object - a model of a classic cozy house with a gable roof. However, the author of the idea of the unusual project admitted that this cargo could not be called "useful", nevertheless, he dreamed of seeing it on the Moon for 25 years.
As Naked Science previously wrote, on January 15, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral with two lunar missions on board, which, after launching into space, each flew their own way. Both launched devices were created by private companies. One of them is called Blue Ghost and is being used as part of NASA's commercial cargo delivery program to the Moon in support of the new Artemis lunar program. He will have to disembark approximately at A sea of Crises in early March.
Another mission, called Hakuto-R Mission 2, was developed by the Japanese company ispace. Its main part is the lunar lander Resilience, which is more than two meters high and the same width. It was created, in fact, for exactly the same purpose as Blue Ghost, to demonstrate the technology in order to further offer its services to the global space industry.
As the last part of the mission's name implies, this is the second attempt to fully implement it: the first, exactly the same device crashed on the Moon in 2023, because the on-board computer incorrectly calculated the altitude.
Hakuto-R Lunar Lander (artistic image)
Image source: ispace
The current Japanese private module, like the previous one, "took with it" a small lunar rover, only in the first unsuccessful case it was a product of the United Arab Emirates, and for the new mission the company created a rover on its own. The height of the Tenacious rover is only 26 centimeters, it weighs five kilograms (on Earth). Engineers call the device a "micro moon rover."
With modest dimensions, he can not only ride on the Moon, but also do useful things there: scoop up the lunar soil with his "scoop" and shoot it in detail on camera. This will allow us to collect a lot of interesting information, for example, about the properties of moon dust, which the Apollo astronauts once encountered.
Lunokhod Tenacious
Image source: ispace
In addition, there are two unusual cargoes on board the Hakuto-R Mission 2. One of them is a nickel plate, on which the words of the preamble to the UNESCO Charter are "inscribed" in 275 languages by the method of nanocutting.: "Thoughts of war arise in people's minds, so the idea of protecting peace should be rooted in people's minds." The CD also contains a whole collection of great paintings and literature, including the text of the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
The storage medium was called a "Memory disk". As you might guess, its creation was an initiative of UNESCO. The organizers of this project see it as a "time capsule": according to calculations, the disk is quite capable of withstanding extreme conditions on the lunar surface for millions of years, therefore it can serve as a carrier of memory about humanity and its cultural heritage.
Finally, perhaps the most peculiar part of the mission is an approximately 10—centimeter aluminum model of an ordinary house with a gable roof, painted with radiation-resistant paint. This is the creation of Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, who called his idea "crazy but poetic." According to Genberg, for a quarter of a century he has been dreaming of seeing one of those cozy houses on the moon that he loves so much in his native Sweden. To realize this dream, he collected donations and accumulated, according to published data, about 7-10 million Swedish kronor, that is, about 65-90 million rubles.
The house on the surface of the Earth's natural satellite will have to accommodate a lunar rover. The Cold Sea, located to the north of the island, was chosen for landing. Seas of Rain. Hakuto-R Mission 2 will have to get there for several more months — this is how the flight path is calculated. The moon landing should take place only this spring.
