Imperial News Service WIP

The DNSA is now targeting the 31st of January for the launch of Ryū M-IV, which is set to bring a full crew of Uchūnauts, alongside an Achkaerinese Astronaut, to the lunar surface. The mission, which will launch only two months after Ryū M-III, marking a record turnaround for separate missions involving an MLV-V-U (the previous record being 59 days), will take the crew to lunar orbit, where they will rendezvous with an Achkaerinese-launched reusable lander, named "Bauer" after Jerry Bauer, the head of the ASA during the Trinity project, before landing on the far side of the lunar surface. This is set to coincide with the upcoming flight of the Rokkenjiman Akari spacecraft, whose crew will land first, allowing for this mission to serve in many regards as a dress-rehearsal for a potential rescue mission on the lunar surface.

The crew is reported to be made up of uchūnauts Taichi Yukawa, Erich Habermann, and Chiyoko Sadatomi, as well as Achkaerinese astronaut Danielle Sanders. Unlike the previous Ryū M-III mission, which only saw three members of the crew land on the surface, Ryū M-IV will make full use of the spacecraft's ability to fly fully autonomously, with the previous mission only keeping one of its crew aboard in the event of any issues involving the spacecraft's systems. The mission will also feature the deployment of a system known as "FROST", or "Far-side Radio Observing Scanning Telescopes", an array of radio telescopes designed to demonstrate the potential of far-side radio astronomy, something which may prove useful for projects potentially being considered by other space agencies. The DNSA has confirmed that, in the spirit of exploration and science, the findings from this demonstrator will be made freely available to any agency which wishes to make use of them.

With the launch of this mission less than a month away, many now suspect that Ryū M-IV will be the last flight of the Tenjin MLV-V-U, which, upon the launch of the mission, will have completed seven flights. The launches of Shirotsuru and the next two flights of the UHS spaceplane are set to fly aboard Tenjin MLV-V-U rockets, while the next lunar missions will launch aboard the MLV-V-O and future large-scale missions aboard the MLV-V-Ka, including rumored plans for a space station in lunar orbit or a platform in geostationary orbit. What does seem certain, as the launch date for Shirotsuru and Tenryū draws closer and closer, is that Artsiv Cosmodrome will likely be quite busy over the coming months, with High Bays I, II, and III currently occupied for the first time since the launch of Kyūden IV. The joint Akari-Ryū mission will mark another record, that being for the most individuals on the lunar surface at a single point, with an upwards of eight crew from three nations at the same spot on the far side of the moon.