Japan’s space agency on Monday (Aug 28) postponed for the third time the launch of its “Moon Sniper” lunar mission due to poor weather.
The H2-A rocket due to blast off from the southern island of Tanegashima was also carrying a research satellite developed with NASA and the European Space Agency
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) gave no new date for the start of the mission, which comes after India successfully landed a probe on the Moon last week.
MHI Launch Services, the rocket co-developer, said on the social media platform X that the mission was called off “because it was confirmed that the upper wind does not satisfy the constraints at launch”.
Last week India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.
Previously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.