Japan Yet to Establish Communication with Moon Lander

Tokyo, Nov. 17 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Thursday that it has not established communication with its moon lander Omotenashi, launched aboard a U.S. rocket Wednesday.

As of midnight Wednesday, no communication had been established with the supersmall probe, which Japan hopes will be the country's first spacecraft to land on the moon, according to the space agency.

Omotenashi, measuring 11 centimeters by 24 centimeters by 37 centimeters, is among the 10 probes launched aboard NASA's Space Launch System in the first leg of the U.S.-led Artemis program aimed at getting humans on the moon for the first time in a half century.

The probes also include Equuleus, which was developed mainly by JAXA and the University of Tokyo and is slated to travel to the back side of the moon. It has been confirmed that the deep-space probe is operating normally.

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