JAXA’s OMOTENASHI (2022)
When NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket flew for the first time in November 2022, it delivered a batch of ten low-cost cubesats to space, in addition to the uncrewed Orion capsule. OMOTENASHI, designed by Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was supposed to attempt a semi-hard lunar landing using solid rocket motors, but the space agency was unable to establish communication with probe after launch. NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Scout also failed, but its target was an asteroid, and not the Moon.
