Mission record
EQUULEUS
Also known as EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, University of Tokyo · Launched
Explore trajectoryLost · Partial success
JAXA's EQUULEUS CubeSat was launched by NASA's Artemis I, completed its planned lunar fly-by, and was confirmed in its planned orbit toward the Earth-Moon L2 point.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- SLS Block 1
- Launch site
- Cape Canaveral, United States
- Countries
- Japan
- Mission types
- Technology demonstrator, Flyby
Chronology
Mission timeline
Loss of contact
EQUULEUS was not detected during the scheduled Misasa pass
JAXA gives21:00JST. The previous nominal communication pass was May16; the exact failure time is unknown.
Flyby
EQUULEUS completed its first lunar flyby on November22 Japan time
The cited report supplies a Japan-calendar day, not an exact UTC instant. UTC interval bounds are retained in the flight constraints.
Moon
Mission architecture
Vehicles
EQUULEUS · Spacecraft
Destinations: Moon
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- EQUULEUS: Estimated · November 16, 2022 to December 29, 2023
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 4, 2026
- EQUULEUS and OMOTENASHI - ISAS Project Overview — JAXAMission page · Supports: mission claims
- Completion of the initial operation of the JAXA CubeSat EQUULEUS — JAXAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- 太陽系のあらゆるところに探査機を送りたい | 宇宙・夢・人 | 宇宙科学研究所 — JAXAMission page · Supports: mission claims
- Artemis I - NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- JAXA SLS CubeSat project flight status, MEXT committee 76, 27 June 2023 — JAXATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Kyoto University Seimei telescope: candidate EQUULEUS observations, 25 May 2023 — OTHERArchive · Supports: mission claims
- Horizons equuleus source identity and prediction limits — JPLArchive · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context