Japan's space probe successfully landed on the Moon

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on January 20 that its Solar Illumination Smart Lander (SLIM) had landed on the surface of the Moon, and said it was currently checking the lander's current condition after establishing contact.

Japanese spacecraft lands on the Moon. (Source: JAXA)

If successful, the SLIM spacecraft, which entered orbit on December 25, 2023, would be Japan's first spacecraft to begin a mission on the Moon, following landings by the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India on Earth's only natural satellite.

JAXA hopes this expedition will contribute to shedding light on the origins of the Moon by analyzing the composition of rocks believed to be part of the celestial body's surface through the superior capabilities of SLIM, the spacecraft dubbed the "Lunar Sniper".

According to Japan's space research agency, the SLIM spacecraft was designed to test technology for precise landings on the surface of gravitational objects with unprecedented accuracy, less than 100 meters from the intended target, in contrast to previous lunar landers, which had accuracy ranging from a few kilometers to a few tens of kilometers.

JAXA also expects that the successful SLIM landing will mark a shift from the era of "landing where possible" to "landing where desired" for future lunar exploration missions, which may include searching for water and requiring precise landings on uneven terrain, such as sloping surfaces.

The SLIM probe was launched by an H2A rocket on September 7, 2023, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The launch was initially planned for around May 2023 but was delayed due to the unsuccessful launch of Japan's next-generation H3 rocket a few months earlier. In August 2023, the launch was further delayed due to weather conditions.

The SLIM lunar exploration mission took place amidst efforts by many countries to explore this celestial body. After the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. India's Chandrayaan-3 lander landed near the Moon's south pole in August 2023.

However, landing on the surface of the Moon is not a simple task. In April 2023, the Hakuto-R lunar lander from Japan's Ispace crashed into the lunar surface during an attempt to land. In August 2023, the Luna-25 lunar lander also crashed into the lunar surface while trying to land.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tau-tham-hiem-vu-tru-cua-nhat-ban-ha-canh-thanh-cong-xuong-mat-trang-258081.html