Japan eyes sending micro lunar probe on solid-fuel rocket in 2020s

Japan's space agency is aiming to send a micro explorer to orbit the Moon, possibly in the first half of the 2020s, using a solid-fuel Epsilon rocket, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's planned use of solid fuel is uncommon for space exploration but the ease with which it can be handled and cheapness give it advantages compared to liquid propellants, which take time to load on rockets.Past lunar explorations, such as the Soviet Union's Luna mission and the United States' Apollo program, used liquid-propellant rockets.JAXA is trying to stre…READ FULL ARTICLE