Sora-Q is a miniatureLunar rover designed and made by Japanese space agencyJAXA, toy manufacturerTomy,Sony, andDoshisha University.[1]
It was launched to the Moon first on the failedHakuto-R Mission 1 in 2022,[2][3] and on 2023Smart Lander for Investigating Moon mission, where it is officially called the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2). The rover was successfully deployed and operated after landing on January 19, 2024.[4][5][6][7][8]
The baseball-sized rover has a mass of 250 g and diameter of 8 cm and is equipped with two small cameras. LEV-2 extends its shape to crawl on the lunar surface using two wheels at its sides, a method of locomotion inspired byfrogs andsea turtles;[9] it can "run" for approximately two hours.[10]