Japan craft made successful pin-point landing, space agency says

Japan craft made successful pin-point landing, space agency says
Japan craft made successful pin-point landing, space agency says

Hello and welcome to the details of Japan craft made successful pin-point landing, space agency says and now with the details

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A model of lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) to be mounted on the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is displayed at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) facility, in Sagamihara, Tokyo, Japan. — Reuters pic

TOKYO, Jan 25 — Japan’s “Moon Sniper” craft landed around 55 metres from its target, the country’s space agency said today as it released the first images from the mission.

The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), dubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its pin-point technology, had the goal of touching down within 100 metres of a specific landing spot.

That is much more precise than the usual landing zone of several kilometres.

“SLIM succeeded in a pin-point soft landing... the landing point is confirmed to be 55 metres away from the target point,” space agency Jaxa said.

Advertisement

Saturday’s soft lunar landing made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve the feat, after the United States, Soviet Union, China and India.

But celebrations were muted because of a problem with the lightweight spacecraft’s solar batteries, which were not generating power.

Jaxa decided to switch the craft off with 12 per cent power remaining, to allow for a possible recovery when the sun’s angle changes.

Advertisement

“If sunlight hits the Moon from the west in the future, we believe there’s a possibility of power generation, and we’re currently preparing for restoration,” Jaxa said earlier this week.

Before switching SLIM off, mission control was able to download technical and image data from the craft’s descent and the lunar surface.

On Thursday, Jaxa published the first colour images from the mission — showing the SLIM craft sitting intact at a slight angle on the rocky grey surface, lunar slopes rising in the distance.

The mission was aiming for a crater where the Moon’s mantle, the usually deep inner layer beneath its crust, is believed to be exposed on the surface.

By analysing the rocks there, Jaxa hopes to shed light on the mystery of the Moon’s possible water resources, key to building bases there one day as possible stopovers on the way to Mars.

Two probes detached successfully from SLIM on Saturday: one with a transmitter and another designed to trundle around the lunar surface beaming images to Earth.

This shape-shifting mini-rover, slightly bigger than a tennis ball, was co-developed by the firm behind the Transformer toys and took the picture released by Jaxa on Thursday.

SLIM is one of several recent lunar missions by governments and private firms, 50 years after the first human moon landing.

But technical problems are rife, and the United States faced two setbacks this month in its ambitious moon programmes.

Two previous Japanese lunar missions — one public and one private — have also failed.

In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States’ Artemis 1 mission.

In April, Japanese startup ispace tried in vain to become the first private company to land on the moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a “hard landing”. — AFP

These were the details of the news Japan craft made successful pin-point landing, space agency says for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

PREV US warns Israel against targeting Beirut airport as strikes escalate against Hezbollah
NEXT What to expect from Nato’s new chief Mark Rutte? Don’t expect a revolution, just steady leadership in turbulent times

Author Information

I am Joshua Kelly and I focus on breaking news stories and ensuring we (“Al-KhaleejToday.NET”) offer timely reporting on some of the most recent stories released through market wires about “Services” sector. I have formerly spent over 3 years as a trader in U.S. Stock Market and is now semi-stepped down. I work on a full time basis for Al-KhaleejToday.NET specializing in quicker moving active shares with a short term view on investment opportunities and trends. Address: 838 Emily Drive Hampton, SC 29924, USA Phone: (+1) 803-887-5567 Email: [email protected]