Japan has become the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon, after its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) made a soft landing on the lunar surface.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said the Slim landed on the Moon’s surface at around 12.20am on Saturday (15.20 GMT, Friday), but it was still confirming communication with the probe.
Dubbed the “moon sniper”, Slim attempted to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target, versus the conventional accuracy of several kilometres.
Jaxa says this landing technology will become a powerful tool in future exploration of hilly moon poles seen as a potential source of oxygen, fuel and water – factors necessary to sustain life.
It would take up to a month to verify whether Slim had achieved the high-precision goals, Jaxa has said.
Japan is increasingly looking to play a bigger role in space, partnering with the United States to counter China’s attempts.
The country is home to several private-sector space startups and Jaxa aims to send an astronaut to the moon as part of Nasa’s Artemis programme in the next few years.
But the Japanese space agency has recently faced multiple setbacks in rocket development, including the launch failure in March of H3, its new flagship rocket, meant to be cost-competitive against commercial rocket providers like SpaceX.
The failure caused delays in Japan’s space missions, including Slim and a joint lunar exploration with India, which in August made a historic touchdown on the moon’s south pole with its Chandrayaan-3 probe.
Jaxa has twice landed on small asteroids, but unlike with an asteroid landing, the moon’s gravity means the lander cannot pull up for another try, its scientists said.
Three lunar missions by Japanese startup ispace, Russia’s space agency and American company Astrobotic have failed in the past year.
Only four nations – the former Soviet Union…
