High hopes for Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ mission

Japan’s “Moon Sniper” spacecraft will attempt a historic landing on the lunar surface this weekend using cutting-edge technology that the country hopes will lead to success where many have failed.

With its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission, Japan wants to become the fifth country to achieve a fiendishly delicate soft landing on the rocky surface.

Only the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India have accomplished this feat, and the Japanese lander, equipped with a rolling robot developed by a major toy company, is designed to do it with precision unprecedented.

The descent of the SLIM light craft, nicknamed “Moon Sniper” by the JAXA space agency, is expected to begin at midnight Saturday, Japan time (Friday 3:00 p.m. GMT).

If all goes according to plan, the landing will take place approximately 20 minutes later.

The craft targets an area within 100 meters (330 feet) of a point on the lunar surface, far less than the usual landing zone of several kilometers.

Success would reverse Japan’s fortunes in space after two failed moon missions and recent rocket failures, including explosions after liftoff.

It would also echo the triumph of India’s low-cost space program in August, when the country became the first to land an uncrewed craft near the Moon’s largely unexplored south pole.

SLIM is expected to land on a crater where the lunar mantle – the deep inner layer beneath its crust – would be accessible to the surface.

“The rocks exposed here are crucial in the search for the origins of the Moon and Earth,” Tomokatsu Morota, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in lunar and planetary exploration, told AFP.

JAXA has already achieved a precise landing on an asteroid, but the challenge is greater on the Moon, where gravity is stronger.

With only one shot landing, the pressure is high and the craft’s accuracy is vital in attempting to “land on an area surrounded by rocks,” which it will examine with a camera, Morota said.

Race to the moon

With its “sniper” technology, Japan hopes to “highlight its presence” in space and provide crucial information about the history of the Moon, according to Morota.

The mission also aims to shed light on the mystery of water resources which will one day be essential for the construction of bases on the Moon.

The lunar surface resembles a desert, but at the poles, where the terrain is rugged and sunlight is rare, there are areas where water could exist.

“The possibility of lunar commercialization depends on whether there is water at the poles,” Morota said.

SLIM’s rolling probe, slightly larger than a tennis ball, can change shape to move across the moon’s surface and was developed jointly by JAXA and Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy.

To add to the fun atmosphere, JAXA has released an online video game called “SLIM: The Pinpoint Moon Landing Game”.

More than 50 years after the first human moon landing, countries and private companies are racing to repeat the journey.

But crash landings, communications failures and other technical problems are common.

This month, a private US lunar lander had to turn around after a fuel leak, while NASA postponed plans for crewed lunar missions under its Artemis program.

Russia, China and other countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck.

Previous Japanese lunar missions have failed twice: one public and one private.

In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the American Artemis 1 mission.

In April, Japanese startup ispace unsuccessfully attempted to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a “hard landing.”

© 2024 AFP