Japan plans to launch a probe to the moon in 2019 – RIA Novosti

05:58 18.05.2016

(updated: 06:02 18.05.2016 )

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TOKYO, May 18 -. RIA Novosti, Xenia Naka The Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric Corp., working to create Japan’s first probe, which is scheduled to launch to the moon in the 2019 financial year (1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020 year), said the business newspaper “Nikkei” in the environment.

Company received an order for the development of the probe from the Japanese aerospace agency JAXA. The cost to develop it would amount to 18 billion yen (163 million dollars). According to the company, the probe will exceed the technical characteristics and accuracy of execution all existing foreign counterparts.

So, getting the error in the calculated point on the surface of the moon will be only 100 meters, while that of foreign probes, it is more than 1 kilometer. Japanese probe weight was 130 kilograms, its return to Earth is not planned.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp., hopes that the success of the launch will greatly expand the ranks of its foreign partners and customers in the space field. The company has designed weather satellite “Himawari-7″ for Japan, and received orders to build communication satellites from Qatar and Turkey. In 2013, the company has doubled the capacity of the plant in Kamakura for the production of artificial satellites are here going to eight vehicles per year. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. plans to increase the sales volume of space technology to 150 billion yen ($ 1.3 billion), which is 50% more than in 2015.