TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese startup Dymon Co.'s ultra-compact Moon rover was launched Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as the Tokyo-based firm seeks to become the world's first private company to explore and photograph the lunar surface.

The 498-gram rover Yaoki, mounted on U.S. company Intuitive Machines Inc.'s second Moon lander, is expected to reach the lunar south pole in early March.

Around 50 people watched a live broadcast of the launch at an event hosted by Dymon at the Space Travelium TeNQ museum in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. Applause erupted when the lander successfully separated from the rocket approximately 43 minutes after launch.

The name of the rover, which measures around 14 centimeters in length and width and 8 cm in height, hails from the Japanese proverb "nana korobi, ya oki," which roughly translates as "fall seven times, get up eight," highlighting its ability to repeatedly return to an upright position after tipping over.

After landing on the Moon, Yaoki will wait around five days to acclimatize to the temperature before being deployed. It will then be remotely operated from Earth for several hours to capture and transmit images.

Intuitive Machines' Nova-C class lunar lander was launched as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, which contracts private companies to deliver scientific instruments to the lunar surface.

In February last year, Intuitive Machines became the first private firm to successfully send a spacecraft to the lunar surface.

The lunar south pole is also the target landing site for the Artemis program, a U.S.-led international mission for human exploration of the Moon, as it is believed to contain ice that could be used for drinking water and rocket fuel.