Japan launches ‘moon sniper’ lunar lander SLIM into space: Japan has launched its lunar exploration spacecraft “moon sniper” aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket, paving the way for the country to become the world’s fifth to land on the moon early next year. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). Japan aims to land SLIM within 100 metres of its target site on the lunar surface. The $100-million mission is expected to reach the moon by February.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz: September 2023
With its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the unexplored lunar south pole, India became the fourth country to safely land a spacecraft on the moon. Japan’s previous moon landing attempts failed last year.
Japan’s Lunar Landing Challenges
JAXA lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander and scrubbed an attempted landing in November. The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, made by Japanese startup ispace, crashed in April as it attempted to descend to the lunar surface. The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a collaborative mission of JAXA, NASA, and the European Space Agency, is also aboard the H-IIA rocket.
The H-IIA Rocket Launch
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactured the rocket and operated the launch, which marked the 47th H-IIA rocket Japan has launched since 2001, bringing the vehicle’s success rate close to 98%. JAXA had suspended the launch of H-IIA carrying SLIM for several months while it investigated the failure of its new medium-lift H3 rocket during its debut in March.
Japan’s space missions have faced other recent setbacks, with the launch failure of the Epsilon small rocket in October 2022, followed by an engine explosion during a test in July. The country plans to send astronauts to the moon in the late 2020s.
Key takeaways for competitive examinations
- JAXA Founded: 1 October 2003;
- JAXA President: Yamakawa Hiroshi;
- JAXA Headquarters: Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan.