Japan could be the fifth country to land on the moon. Last Thursday (7), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) launched the robotic lunar lander Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim), nicknamed the lunar sniper.
The device lifted off on the H-IIA launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center. Slim is expected to reach the Moon in early 2024. Once it reaches lunar orbit, it will fly over the satellite for a month.
The module will use a facial recognition-based system to autonomously find its landing site. This is where its nickname lunar sniper is justified: it is expected to land with an accuracy of only 100 meters from its target. At present, spacecraft land several kilometers from the site to be explored.
If this feat is achieved, it could revolutionize lunar exploration, making it possible in the future to land in places where it is not yet possible. The main goal of the $100 million mission is to "land where we want to" on the lunar surface, rather than "land where we can," as Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of Jaxa, told a press conference.
Slim is expected to land near Mare Nectaris, a lunar sea observable from Earth. Equipped with a projected multiband spectral camera, it will scan rocks and help discover how the Moon was formed. It also carries a reflecting mirror provided by NASA to accurately measure the distance between Earth and the landing site.
Japan has tried to land on the Moon before
This is the third Japanese attempt to land on the Moon. In the first, which took place in April 2022, the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander crashed while attempting to land on the moon. In the second, Jaxa admitted that it had lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander and declared the mission terminated in November of the same year.
If the current attempt is successful, Japan will be the fifth country to land on the satellite. In August 2024, India became the fourth country to achieve this feat, following in the footsteps of the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.
An X-ray telescope is also being sent
Slim's launch was scheduled for August 28, but had to be canceled due to weather conditions. Finally, on September 7, the lander arrived in space aboard the H-IIA launch vehicle of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
In addition to the robotic module, the spacecraft also carried the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (Xrism) telescope. According to the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries website, Xrism separated 14 minutes and 9 seconds after launch and SLIM, 47 minutes and 33 seconds after launch.
In orbit, the telescope will analyze and record X-ray emitting objects, such as exploding stars and black holes, for example. According to NASA's website, the team will "study the hottest regions of the universe, the largest structures and the objects with the strongest gravity".
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