As deadline looms, Japanese team in lunar probe contest still determined to shoot for the moon

A Japanese team participating in an international lunar probe competition said Thursday it will not give up its plan to launch a rocket to send its rover to the moon, even as prospects for doing so by the deadline — the end of March — grow dim.

Team Hakuto was aiming to launch its 58-centimeter, 4-kilogram unmanned rover, named Sorato, aboard an Indian rocket by March 31, to be able to compete in the Google Lunar Xprize competition. Hakuto means white rabbit in Japanese.

But the team's plan was derailed after Indian competitor TeamIndus was unable to launch the rocket, making it extremely difficult to find an alternative before the deadline for sending its rover to the moon. Hakuto partnered with TeamIndus in December 2016 to transport their rovers together aboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket.