Japan may cancel Moon mission

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Japan's space agency has recommended cancelling a much-delayed uncrewed mission to the Moon in the latest setback to the nation's ambitions to explore the final frontier.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) planned to call off its Lunar-A mission, which was intended to shed light on the Moon's origin and evolution using a module to land on its surface, a spokesman said on Monday.

"The mothership was built 10 years ago and over the years it has been deteriorating, and it has come to a point where it can no longer be used," project manager Takashi Nakajima said. "Instead of refurbishing the mission's mothership or building a new one, we made a recommendation that we would like to pursue other possibilities. We do not want to build another similar spacecraft."

Source: New Scientist

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