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| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | JAXA | SpaceX | CNSA |
| Prime contractor | Mitsubishi Electric | SpaceX | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) |
| Status | Landed | In development | Landed |
| Customer | JAXA | NASA-HLS | CNSA |
| Launch date | 2023-09-06 | 2027 (NET — Artemis III) | 2024-05-03 |
| Landing date | 2024-01-19 | — | 2024-06-01 |
| Landing site | Near Shioli crater, Mare Nectaris (~10 m precision vs 100 m target) | Lunar south pole (NASA-curated candidate region near 84-90°S) | Apollo crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin (lunar far side) |
| Payload | LEV-1 (2.1 kg hopper) + LEV-2 'SORA-Q' (0.25 kg sphere) (2024-01-19) | ~100 tonnes to lunar surface (sustained variant target) (2024-04-16) | 1,935.3 g of lunar far-side regolith returned to Earth (2024-06-25) |
| Contract value | — | $2.89B + $1.15B Option B = $4.04B total (2022-11-15) | — |
| Outcome | 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. | Selected April 2021 as sole HLS provider for Artemis III. Architecture requires Super Heavy launch + multiple Starship tanker refueling flights in LEO + transit to NRHO + rendezvous with Orion (SLS). NASA OIG IG-26-004 (March 2026) flagged crew-rescue capability as open risk. October 2025: NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy reopened Artemis III lander contract to competition due to Starship development pace. | First-ever sample return from the lunar far side and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite for far-side comms. Samples revealed unexpectedly cohesive grain behavior and excavated material from the Moon's mantle. |
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