Japan successfully 'landed' on the moon

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Solar Intelligent Landing Device (SLIM) made history in the country's aerospace industry by landing on the lunar surface at approximately 10:20 PM on January 19th (Vietnam time).

Thus, Japan is the third country to land a spacecraft on the moon in the 21st century and the fifth to achieve this since the Soviet Union's Luna 9 mission in 1966.

20 minutes of breathless suspense

SLIM, nicknamed "the moon shooter" because it is equipped with high-precision technology, began its descent to the moon at 10 PM on January 19 (Vietnam time).

"The descent control process for landing on the moon was breathtaking, a truly nail-biting 20 minutes," CNN quoted Kenji Kushiki, one of the project directors, as saying.

Japan's SLIM landing craft is a compact, robotic vessel.

During its landing on the moon, SLIM used image-based navigation technology, which JAXA called "the eye of God." The lander continuously photographed the lunar surface and quickly determined its precise location on a lunar map, automatically adjusting its trajectory to land at the designated spot.

Director Kushiki said that in the final moments of the landing attempt, the SLIM lander was constantly being pulled towards the moon by gravity, forcing the onboard engines to run non-stop to maintain a stable speed if they wanted to achieve a smooth landing as planned.

Measuring 2.4 x 1.7 x 2.7 meters and weighing 200 kg, Japan's small lunar lander is designed for a highly precise landing at a specific location on the lunar surface. Other landing missions, including NASA's Apollo spacecraft, also landed on the moon with high accuracy. However, JAXA hopes to be able to send small, lightweight, and low-cost robotic landers to the moon.

The US lunar lander crashed and exploded in the Pacific Ocean .

The journey of the Japanese landing ship

The SLIM lunar lander was launched into space in September 2023. After leaving Earth, SLIM activated its propulsion system to begin its journey to the moon. On Christmas Day, December 25, 2023, the spacecraft successfully entered an elliptical orbit around the moon.

Since then, SLIM has narrowed the distance to the lunar surface and last night successfully landed south of what is known as the Sea of ​​Stillness in Antarctica, the same place where the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed in 1969.

According to JAXA, SLIM landed at its intended location with a width of 100 meters. For comparison, the planned landing area of ​​the privately-owned Peregrine spacecraft, manufactured by Astrobotic (USA), spanned several kilometers. However, after launch on January 8th, Peregrine suffered a serious fuel leak and was forced to abandon its attempt to reach the moon. Peregrine re-entered Earth's atmosphere before burning up in the Pacific Ocean on January 18th.

Unlike recent robotic missions, SLIM focuses on surveying the area near the impact crater known as Shioli, within the region called the Nectar Sea. This is where scientists suspect it was formed after ancient volcanic activity. Studying the rock and soil structure in this area could help scientists uncover the origins of the moon.

After SLIM landed on rocky and rugged terrain, JAXA predicted that the mission's success could pave the way for future missions beyond the moon, reaching planets with even more challenging conditions.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/nhat-ban-do-bo-thanh-cong-len-mat-trang-185240119202551725.htm