Japan sets up team for unmanned lunar landing

Japan’s space agency has set up a project team to send an unmanned mission to the surface of the moon, possibly within the next 10 years, officials said today.

Keiji Tachikawa, chairman of the space agency JAXA, provided no further details of the composition of the team, but said he hoped the mission would be launched within a decade.

The unmanned surface laning is a key element of Japan’s overall space strategy, once the most ambitious in Asia, but which has recently fallen behind China.

JAXA’s SELENE moon orbiter is due for launch in 2007, and officials announced last year that they hope to send a manned mission to the moon by 2025.