About 10 years ago, the Japanese space agency JAXA announced that they would be sending astronauts to the Moon in the 2020s, with a base to be completed by 2030. Sadly, this program never got past the powerpoint stage, probably because of Japan's current economic issues.
But what would it have looked like? I saw this article on NASAspaceflight.com a while back and tried to look for the source of some of the images there. I eventually found this .pdf as well as this one.
A few robotic missions would have preceded a series of manned sorties and the construction of a lunar base.
Several candidate landing sites were chosen:
A human-rated launcher and HTV-derived manned spacecraft would have been developed.
Cryogenic stages would have sent the spacecraft to the Moon.
Robotic landers under the SELENE/Kaguya program would have led to a manned lunar lander.
The lunar base would have been constructed in cooperation with NASA (using technologies such as ATHLETE).
JAXA's contributions to the base would have included a lunar rover and a cargo lander...
as well as solar arrays and robotic systems.
Here is a diagram, showing how the HTV derivative would rendezvous with a lander pre-placed in lunar orbit.
Also, a Japanese astronaut could have gone to the Moon in the Constellation program (His name? Hibito Nanba). But NASA doesn't "feel so moon" anymore.
But what would it have looked like? I saw this article on NASAspaceflight.com a while back and tried to look for the source of some of the images there. I eventually found this .pdf as well as this one.
A few robotic missions would have preceded a series of manned sorties and the construction of a lunar base.
Several candidate landing sites were chosen:
A human-rated launcher and HTV-derived manned spacecraft would have been developed.
Cryogenic stages would have sent the spacecraft to the Moon.
Robotic landers under the SELENE/Kaguya program would have led to a manned lunar lander.
The lunar base would have been constructed in cooperation with NASA (using technologies such as ATHLETE).
JAXA's contributions to the base would have included a lunar rover and a cargo lander...
as well as solar arrays and robotic systems.
Here is a diagram, showing how the HTV derivative would rendezvous with a lander pre-placed in lunar orbit.
Also, a Japanese astronaut could have gone to the Moon in the Constellation program (His name? Hibito Nanba). But NASA doesn't "feel so moon" anymore.
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