Japan: Japan has launched a rocket carrying its lunar exploration spacecraft on a mission called “Moon Sniper” to become the world’s fifth country to land on the moon.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that their domestically produced H-IIA rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan successfully deployed the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).
Last month, unfavorable weather conditions caused the postponement of the scheduled three launches within a week. The “Moon Sniper” intends to land SLIM within 100 meters (328 feet) of its designated spot on the moon’s surface. This is significantly shorter than the typical range of several kilometers.
アトム応援プロジェクトのデカルと共に飛び立ったH-IIA47号機の姿をご覧ください。#XRISM #SLIM への応援、引き続きよろしくお願いします！https://t.co/eAvBlxMX0S
空をこえて～?♪#H2AF47 #鉄腕アトム pic.twitter.com/gsPHyFuUPm— MHI Launch Services (@MHI_LS) September 7, 2023
“By creating the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land. By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the Moon,” Japanese space agency JAXA said before the launch.
“There are no previous instances of pinpoint landing on celestial bodies with significant gravity, such as the Moon”, JAXA added.
The $100 million mission is anticipated to reach the moon by February of next year.
If Japan succeeds in this mission, the country will become the fifth nation to land on the moon. Only the US, Soviet Union, China, and India have successfully landed on the moon.
Last month, India accomplished a historic milestone in its cost-effective space program by successfully landing its spacecraft near the undiscovered south pole of the moon.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved success shortly after a Russian probe crashed in the same area, and it follows a previous Indian attempt that had failed four years ago at the final moment.