Its first stage previously helped loft the SES-22 communications satellite this past June and three batches of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites, company representatives wrote in a description of the upcoming moon mission (opens in new tab).
Mission 1 is a test flight for ispace, which wants to see how Hakuto-R performs in deep space and on the lunar surface. .If Hakuto-R aces its touchdown on Earth's nearest neighbor, it will make history; to date, only the space agencies of the United States, China and the Soviet Union have achieved soft landings on the lunar surface.
A successful touchdown will also allow the United Arab Emirates to make some history of its own; the nation's first moon rover, a 22-pound (10 kilograms) robot named Rashid, will deploy from Hakuto-R and study its environs for about 14 Earth days, if all goes according to plan.The cubesat will do its work from lunar orbit, which it will reach after a roughly three-month journey through deep space.