Japan’s SLIM space probe entered lunar orbit on Monday, taking a significant step towards the country’s first successful lunar landing.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is known colloquially as the ‘Moon Sniper’ because it is designed to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of a selected target on the lunar surface.
If successful, Japan will be only the fifth country to successfully land a probe on the Moon, following the United States, Russia, China and India.
In a statement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, “On Monday, SLIM successfully entered the moon’s orbit at 04:51 pm Japan time”.
“Its trajectory shift was achieved as originally planned, and there is nothing out of the ordinary about the probe’s conditions”, JAXA added.
JAXA went on to say, “The lander’s descent towards the moon is expected to start around midnight Japan time on January 20, with its landing on the surface scheduled for 20 minutes later”.
After three postponements due to inclement weather, the H-IIA rocket carrying the lander launched off in September from the southern island of Tanegashima.
The mission, according to JAXA, will be an unprecedentedly high-precision landing on the Moon.
The lander is outfitted with a spherical probe created in collaboration with a toy firm.
It is a little larger than a tennis ball and can change shape to glide around the lunar surface.
SLIM’s reported margin of error of under 100 metres, compared to earlier probes that landed a few or 10-plus kilometres distant from targets, shows a level of accuracy previously considered unattainable, thanks to the conclusion of a 20-year work by researchers, according to JAXA.
The demand for pinpointing targets like craters and boulders on the lunar surfaces is increasing as technology advances, according to Shinichiro Sakai, JAXA’s SLIM project manager, this month.
Sakai went on to say, “Gone are the days when merely exploring ‘somewhere on the moon’ was desired”.
“Hopes are also high that SLIM’s exactitude will make sampling of lunar permafrost easier, bringing scientists a step closer to uncovering the mystery around water resources on the moon”, Sakai continued.
Two Japanese missions one public and one private, have failed.
Last year, Japan attempted but failed to send a lunar probe dubbed Omotenashi as part of the United States’ Artemis 1 mission.
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