Japan Launches Its Spacecraft Carrying ‘Moon Sniper’ For Lunar Exploration With Lander SLIM
On 7th September, Japan launched its H-IIA rocket which was made by Japan for lunar exploration. The H-IIA rocket carries the Lander SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) aboard it. If the mission is successful then Japan will become the fifth country to land on the lunar surface early next year.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said that the rocket was launched successfully from the Tanegashima Space Center located in Southern Japan. The SLIM lander is aboard the spacecraft which they plan to land 100 meters away from its target destination on the lunar surface.
Previously the launch was halted thrice in a week last month because of unfavorable weather conditions. The lander is dubbed as the ‘moon sniper’ and it’s expected to land by February. The mission cost Japan 100 million dollars.
Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of JAXA said in a news conference, “The big objective of SLIM is to prove the high-accuracy landing … to achieve ‘landing where we want’ on the lunar surface, rather than ‘landing where we can’.”
This lunar mission comes two weeks after ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 mission by India which made India the fourth country to land successfully on the moon. Chandrayaan 3 mission focuses on exploring the south pole of the moon which remains unexplored.
At the same time, Russia’s lunar mission faces a major setback after its Luna-25 lander crashed on the lunar surface. The lander crashed while it was approaching the lunar surface. Japan too faced two setbacks last year when JAXA lost contact with OMOTENASHI lander.
Again in April last year, Japan-based startup Ispace (9348.T) built a Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander that crashed while descending on the lunar surface. SLIM plans to land near the Mare Nectaris Region of the moon. It is a lunar sea that can be viewed from the Earth as a dark spot. The primary goal of the lander is to test image processing and advanced optical technology.
Read Also:
