Rashid lander shares first image of the Earth shaped like a crescent

HAKUTO-R, the explorer's lander Rashid, scheduled to land on the moon in April, took the first picture of the planet Earth, about 19 hours after it separated from the "Falcon 9" launch rocket.

iSpace, the Japanese company that developed the vehicle that carries the explorer to the moon, stated on Twitter that the camera installed on the vehicle took the first picture of the Earth, which is similar to the crescent, and that it maintains a constant source of energy supply, during its way to Earth lunar orbit.

iSpace also said, “What looks like a crescent Moon here, is actually the Earth. In the lower right, you can see a plate showing our HAKUTO-R corporate partners.”

The firm added that the control centre team in Tokyo, by following up on the vehicle, confirmed that there were no deficiencies in the vehicle's basic systems.

Critical initial operational conditions were also achieved in the navigation phase to the Moon.

Ground station

In the same context, the Emirates project team to explore the moon at the ground station at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre is preparing to receive the first direct signal from the spacecraft, after capturing the first signal after the successful launch of the first Emirati mission to explore the moon on Sunday morning.

The mechanism for communicating with the explorer during his journey to the moon is represented by the landing vehicle HAKUTO-R, where commands are sent from the ground station in Al Khawaneej in Dubai to the ground station in Tokyo, which will send these commands to “Rashid” through the landing vehicle, provided that it receives the data in the same way, until the operations team analyzes the information received daily, until the arrival of the explorer on the surface of the moon.

The secondary communication system will also be tested, allowing direct communication with the explorer from the ground station in Al Khawaneej, by directing the sensor of the secondary communication system to the Earth and sending signals directly to the Earth.

The project team works at the earth station around the clock, within the system of shifts, day and night, to carry out scientific operations and ensure the correctness of the explorer's devices and analyze information.

Data analysis

Immediately after landing the explorer on the surface of the moon, which is expected at the end of April 2023, and after ensuring the integrity of its devices, conducting a test of the main communication device with the lander, and calibrating the device to improve communication and raise its efficiency.

The explorer will send data and images to the ground station. In two stages, the first is to convert the information from its normal image into digital images and files, followed by the second stage, by analyzing the data, through two parts.

As for the second section, it is scientific data, and it is sent to the scientific team that analyzes it.