Japan has launched a rocket carrying a lunar exploration spacecraft, aiming to become the world’s fifth country to set foot on the moon.
According to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the domestic H-IIA rocket successfully launched the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) from Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan on Thursday.
JAXA’s “Moon Sniper” mission seeks to land SLIM within 100 meters (328 feet) of its target location on the lunar surface.
That is far shorter than the typical range of several kilometers.
Japan has launched a rocket carrying a lunar exploration spacecraft, aiming to become the world’s fifth country to set foot on the moon.
“By developing the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land wherever we want, rather than just where it is easy to land,” JAXA stated before the launch. “By doing so, it will be possible to land on planets with even fewer resources than the Moon.”
According to JAXA, “there have been no previous instances of pinpoint landing on celestial bodies with significant gravity such as the Moon.”
The $100 million project will reach the moon in February of next year.
Only the United States, Russia, China, and India have successfully landed on the moon.
Last month, India’s spacecraft landed near the moon’s unexplored south pole, marking a historic victory for the country’s low-cost space effort.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was successful just days after a Russian probe crashed in the same zone and four years after a previous Indian attempt failed at the final moment.
SOURCE – (AJ)
