Attention space enthusiasts! Japan is on the cusp of a historic achievement: landing a spacecraft on the Moon! This landing will be a historic moment for Japan, as it will be the country’s first time landing on the moon. This will be the third country to land on the moon this century, after India and China.
According to the Washington Post, Hiroyuki Kamata, a professor at Meiji University in Tokyo, states: “The goal of this mission is to land where you want to land, instead of landing where you can land.”
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), nicknamed Moon Sniper, is poised to touch down on the lunar surface today, January 19th, marking a monumental achievement for Japan's space programme.
The newly unveiled plan reveals a thrilling timeline for the Moon Sniper mission. Its descent towards the moon will begin at 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (15:00 GMT), which translates to midnight on January 20th in Japan Standard Time.
What is the Moon Sniper Spacecraft?
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), nicknamed Moon Sniper, is a marvel of Japanese engineering. This compact lander boasts unparalleled precision targeting, aiming to touch down within a mere 100 metres of its designated lunar spot—a significant feat compared to the usual landing range of several kilometres. This high accuracy opens doors for future exploration, allowing scientists to land on specific areas of interest with greater confidence.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency states: “The SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon) project is a mission for researching the pinpoint landing technology necessary for future lunar probes and verifying this on the surface of the moon with a small scale probe.
By creating the SLIM lander humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land, as had been the case before. By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource scarce than the moon.”
What are the Mission Objectives of SLIM?
According to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, these are the prime objectives of this mission:
“SLIM （Smart Lander for Investigating Moon）is a JAXA project aiming to contribute to future lunar and planetary exploration by achieving the following two objectives.
Objective A Demonstration of high-precision landing technology on the moon
- Aimed landing accuracy of 100m compared to several kilometers to tens of kilometers of conventional lunar landers.
- Key technology includes “Vision-based navigation“ and “Navigation, guidance and control“
Objective B Realization of a lightweight lunar and planetary probe system to allow more frequent lunar and planetary exploration missions
- Small, lightweight, and high-performance chemical propulsion system
- Weight reduction of core elements in most spacecrafts such as computers and power supply systems”
Where to Watch Japan’s Moon Landing Mission?
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will be providing live coverage of the landing on their YouTube channel. The broadcast will start several hours before the landing, featuring commentary from experts and real-time updates on the spacecraft's progress.
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