A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload including two lunar rovers from Japan and the United Arab Emirates, lifts off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida on December 11, 2022. But more on that later. In April 2023, a Japanese company’s spacecraft apparently crashed while attempting to land on the Moon. Japan now hopes to make the first “precise landing” on the Moon early Saturday, January 20, 2024, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War interstate space race -United States and the Soviet Union. Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux, file
Japan’s space agency said Saturday morning that its spacecraft was on the Moon, but that it was “still checking its status.” More details will be given at a news conference, officials said.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, landed on the lunar surface around 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time on Saturday (3:20 p.m. GMT Friday). No astronauts were on board the spacecraft.
If SLIM succeeded, Japan would become the fifth country to achieve this feat after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.
As the spacecraft descended, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency mission control said everything was going according to plan and later said SLIM was on the lunar surface. But it was not mentioned whether the landing was successful.
Mission Control kept repeating that they were “checking his status” and that more information would be given at a press conference. It was not immediately clear when the press conference would begin.
SLIM, nicknamed “the Moon Sniper,” began its descent at midnight Saturday, and within 15 minutes it had descended to about 10 kilometers (six miles) above the lunar surface, according to the space agency known as from JAXA.
At an altitude of five kilometers (three miles), the lander was in vertical descent mode, then at 50 meters (165 feet) above the surface, SLIM was supposed to make a parallel movement to find a safe landing point , JAXA said.
About half an hour after its presumed landing, JAXA said it was still checking the status of the lander.
SLIM, which aimed at a very small target, is a lightweight spacecraft the size of a passenger vehicle. It used “precision landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.
While most previous probes used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM aimed for a target just 100 meters (330 feet) away.
The project is the culmination of two decades of JAXA work on precision technology.
This time-exposure photo shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload including two lunar rovers from Japan and the United Arab Emirates, launched from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral space station, Florida, on December 11. 2022. But later, in April 2023, a Japanese company’s spacecraft apparently crashed while trying to land on the moon. Japan now hopes to make the first “precise landing” on the Moon early Saturday, January 20, 2024, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War interstate space race -United States and the Soviet Union. Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux, file
The mission’s main goal is to test new landing technology that would allow lunar missions to land “where we want, rather than where it is easy to land,” JAXA said. If the landing is successful, the spacecraft will search for clues to the Moon’s origin, including analyzing minerals with a special camera.
The SLIM, equipped with a cushion to cushion the impact, aimed to land near the Shioli crater, near a region covered in volcanic rock.
The closely watched mission took place just 10 days after a lunar mission led by a private US company failed when the spacecraft developed a fuel leak hours after launch.
SLIM was launched on a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket in September. It first orbited Earth and entered lunar orbit on December 25.
Japan hopes a success will allow it to regain confidence in its space technology after several failures. A spacecraft designed by a Japanese company crashed during an attempted moon landing in April, and a new flagship rocket failed on its first launch in March.
JAXA has a history of difficult landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, twice landed on the 900-meter (3,000-foot-long) asteroid Ryugu, collecting samples that were returned to Earth.
Experts say the successful pinpoint landing of SLIM, particularly on the Moon, would raise Japan’s profile in the global space technology race.
Takeshi Tsuchiya, professor of aeronautics at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, said confirming the accuracy of landing on a targeted area is important for future lunar explorations.
“It is necessary to show the world that Japan has the appropriate technology so that it can properly assert its position in lunar development,” he said. The Moon is important from a resource exploration perspective, and it can also be used as a base to go to other planets, like Mars, he explained.
SLIM carries two small autonomous probes: the LEV-1 and LEV-2 lunar excursion vehicles, which will be released just before landing.
LEV-1, equipped with an antenna and a camera, is responsible for recording the landing of SLIM. LEV-2 is a ball-shaped rover equipped with two cameras, developed by JAXA in collaboration with Sony, toymaker Tomy and Doshisha University.
JAXA will broadcast a live broadcast of the landing, while space fans will gather to watch the historic moment on the big screen at the agency’s Sagamihara campus, southwest of Tokyo.
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