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| Attribute | LUPEX (ISRO lander + JAXA rover) Lunar Polar Exploration Mission Trust: Agency-primary Last verified Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Intuitive Machines | JAXA | JAXA + ISRO |
| Prime contractor | Intuitive Machines | Mitsubishi Electric | JAXA + ISRO |
| Status | Landed | Landed | In development |
| Customer | NASA-CLPS | JAXA | JAXAISRO |
| Launch date | 2024-02-15 | 2023-09-06 | 2028 (NET) |
| Landing date | 2024-02-22 | 2024-01-19 | — |
| Landing site | Malapert A crater, ~300 km from lunar south pole | Near Shioli crater, Mare Nectaris (~10 m precision vs 100 m target) | Lunar south pole (permanently shadowed crater margin) |
| Payload | ~100 kg payload capacity (1,908 kg launch mass) (2024-02-22) | LEV-1 (2.1 kg hopper) + LEV-2 'SORA-Q' (0.25 kg sphere) (2024-01-19) | ~350 kg rover with drilling to 1.5 m + ISRO lander (2026-05-28) |
| Contract value | $118M (2024-02-15) | — | — |
| Outcome | First US Moon landing since Apollo 17 and first commercial soft landing in history. Lander tipped to ~30° on touchdown after landing-leg failure but transmitted data for ~7 days before sunset. | First Japanese soft landing; made Japan the 5th nation to soft-land on the Moon. One of two main engines failed at ~50 m altitude; lander touched down on its side but still met 100-m precision goal. Survived four lunar-night cycles despite not being designed for it; declared concluded 2024-08-23. | Joint ISRO-JAXA water-ice prospecting mission, designated Chandrayaan-5 by India. India's cabinet approved Phase A on 2025-03-10. Launches on JAXA's H3. Carries American and European instruments alongside Indian and Japanese ones. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.