Ispace Launch successful!

 On the 11th of December a Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 towards the surface of the moon. After a series of delys the mission lifted off at 07:38 UTC. This is a mission more than a decade in the making and the bumpy history of this companies lunar ambitions were covered in one of my previous blog posts. This lander is the first of many landers headed to the moon under NASA's CLPS program, and the outcome of this mission could determine the fate of the program and the rest of NASA's moon visions.

After launch.

The lander will take an indirect ballistic lunar transfer to the moon, the same path that was taken by CAPSTONE  and KLPO, which minimises the amount of propellent needed to enter into a stable lunar orbit by taking advantage of orbital mechanics and by making the upper stage of your launch vehicle do extra work. More detail on how exactly this is achieved is covered in my series of posts of the CAPSTONE mission, earlier in the year.

In a release from ipsace, the company outlined the ten goals they are aiming to achieve on this mission, it is worth noting that no private company has ever landed on the moon, so if the lander completes most but not all of these milestones, it will be a great success. The list of goals is as follows:

• Completion of Launch Preparations
• Completion of Launch and Deployment
• Establishment of a Steady Operation State
• Completion of First Orbital Control Maneuver
• Completion of stable deep-state flight operations for one month
• Completion of all deep space orbital control maneuvers before LOI
• Reaching the lunar gravitational field/lunar orbit
• Completion of all orbit control maneuvers in lunar orbit
• Completion of the lunar landing
• Establishment of a steady system state after the lunar landing

The payloads.

The mission has managed to secure funding by selling space on their lander for other companies to put payloads on the vehicle. One of the most exciting ones is a small lunar rover called "Rashid" from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is ramping up their interplanetary space program after a successful orbit insertion of their Mars orbiter called Hope.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration agency will also have a lunar rover onboard, approximately the size of a tennis ball. There are other private payloads, however we do not know the exact details of these as they have not been dislcosed