Japan’s Space Agency Records Communication Failure With Artemis Mission’s CubeSat
Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Thursday that it had registered communication failures with the Omotenashi satellite and was taking steps to stabilize its position in space and power supply.”Omotenashi also separated on November 16, but currently the CubeSat has not completed sun acquisition and communication is not stable. We are therefore continuing operations to stabilise attitude, secure power and establish communication,” JAXA said in a statement.On Thursday, NASA launched the first unmanned lunar mission, Artemis 1, with JAXA Omotenashi and Equuleus CubeSats on board. Equuleus separated on the same day and was confirmed to operate normally.The Omotenashi satellite, weighing about 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds), should land the smallest lunar semi-rigid lander, which will observe the radiation situation on the Moon’s surface.
