Luxembourg is poised to make space history in June 2025 as its "Tenacious" rover attempts a lunar landing aboard Japan's ispace lander, marking the Grand Duchy's first direct participation in Moon exploration.

A miniature rover developed in Luxembourg is scheduled to land on the Moon in June 2025. This experiment will pave the way for future lunar missions similar to those already being planned by the United States, China, and Europe.

The Resilience space robot from ispace was sent into space in January aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Hakuto-R Mission 2, also called "Resilience", is a mission led by the Japanese company ispace, specialising in the development of robotic spacecraft for lunar exploration. The Resilience lander measures just over two metres in height and width. It is designed to transport various payloads on future missions. In this case, it is transporting a very small rover built in Luxembourg.

The 50-centimetre "Tenacious" rover, equipped with a shovel and camera, will analyse lunar regolith and transmit data to Earth.

The mission was launched on 15 January from the Kennedy Space Centre on board a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. After having already flown over the Moon, the craft is due to land on the northern hemisphere of the Moon between 6 and 8 June.

The company had failed in a previous attempt in 2023 when its landing craft crashed on the surface of the Moon. Landing on the Moon presents a real challenge due to the absence of an atmosphere, which renders parachutes useless. Instead, spacecraft must rely on the combustion of precisely controlled thrusters to slow their descent while manoeuvring over hazardous terrain.

The Japanese are not the only ones dreaming of setting foot on the Moon. The United States already have an advanced programme of reconquest with their Artemis III mission, which aims to send several astronauts to the Moon by 2027 or 2028. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has also recently communicated on the progress of preparations for its very first manned lunar mission, scheduled for 2030. The European Space Agency (ESA), meanwhile, has revealed that it is targeting 2031 for its first mission to the surface of the Moon with the development of its lunar lander Argonaut.