Japan successfully launched its lunar exploration spacecraft aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket, with hopes of becoming the world’s fifth country to land on the moon in early 2024.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that the rocket took off as planned from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, finally releasing the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). Last month, unfavorable weather conditions had caused three postponements, adding to the anticipation surrounding this mission.
Referred to as the “moon sniper,” Japan’s goal for SLIM is to achieve a pinpoint landing within 100 meters of its designated lunar site. This $100-million mission is set to commence its landing operation in February, following a long and fuel-efficient approach trajectory.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa emphasized, “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 launch comes shortly after India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, making India the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. In contrast, Russia’s Luna-25 lander encountered an unfortunate crash while approaching the moon around the same time.
Japan has faced its lunar challenges in the past year, with two prior lunar landing attempts ending in failure. In November, JAXA lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander, leading to the scrubbing of the landing attempt. Additionally, the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, developed by the Japanese startup ispace, crashed in April during its lunar descent.
SLIM’s mission objective includes a touchdown on the near side of the moon, close to Mare Nectaris, a lunar sea known for its dark spot appearance when viewed from Earth. The primary focus is to test advanced optical and image processing technology. It’s important to note that SLIM does not carry a lunar rover.
In addition to SLIM, the H-IIA rocket launched the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a collaborative effort involving JAXA, NASA, and the European Space Agency. XRISM’s mission is to observe plasma winds in the universe, a key element in understanding the evolution of stars and galaxies.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactured and operated the rocket, marking the 47th H-IIA launch since 2001, with an impressive success rate of nearly 98%.
JAXA temporarily suspended the launch of H-IIA carrying SLIM as it investigated the failure of its new medium-lift H3 rocket during its debut in March.
Despite recent setbacks, Japan remains committed to space exploration, with plans to send an astronaut to the moon’s surface in the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
