Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the Moon after one of its spacecraft without astronauts successfully landed on the lunar surface early on the morning of January 20.
Still, Japanese aerospace officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the Smart Lunar Investigation Lander, or SLIM, achieved its mission priority of landing accurately. Are not. The spacecraft’s solar panels have not yet generated electricity, which could shorten the spacecraft’s operations on the Moon.
Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Japan Space Agency’s Institute of Astronautics and Science, said officials believe that SLIM’s small rovers were launched as planned and that data is coming. transmitted back to Earth.
However, he added that SLIM’s solar panels were not generating power and the ship only had a few more hours of battery life left. The priority now is for the spacecraft to collect as much data about the landing and the Moon with remaining battery power as possible.
Previously, the US, Soviet Union, China and India had succeeded in launching exploration equipment to the Moon.
Mr. Kuninaka expressed confidence that Japan’s space program has achieved “minimal” success. The SLIM spacecraft landed on the Moon at about 0:20 a.m. on January 20, Tokyo time.
SLIM is a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger car. The spacecraft uses “precision landing” technology that promises much better control than any previous Moon landing.
While most previous spacecraft landed within 10km, which meant little accuracy, the SLIM spacecraft aimed to deviate from plan by just 100m.
Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said that this will be the first landing with such precision in the world and will be a key technology for the landing system. Sustainable, long-lasting and accurate space probes.
Japan needs this technology to secure its position and contribute to international space projects.
This project is the culmination of two decades of research into precision technology by JAXA.
SLIM was launched by a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket in September 2023. It initially orbited the Earth and entered lunar orbit on December 25, 2023.