Timeline: Japan's space programs and moon missions

Ispace

18/01/2024 23:00

By Kantaro  Komiya
       TOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Japan aims to become the fifth
country to put a spacecraft on the moon when it tries a
precision landing on Friday. 
    The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is attempting
to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target. Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says the technology will
become essential to searching for water, and other factors that
could sustain life on the moon.
    Here's a timeline of some events in Japan's space programs
leading up to the planned SLIM touchdown.
 YEAR   PROJECT     DEVELOPMENT
 1970   Ohsumi      A University of Tokyo lab launched
                    the first Japanese satellite on a
                    homemade rocket, opening Japan's
                    space age. Aerospace engineering
                    was previously banned under a
                    U.S.-led occupation after the end
                    of World War II until 1952.
 1990-  Hiten       Japan launched its first lunar
 1993               probe and conducted navigational
                    experiments between the earth and
                    the moon. The spacecraft was
                    manually collided onto the moon at
                    the end of the mission.
 2001-  H-IIA       The flagship medium-lift rocket
 Prese              has been successful at 47 of 48
 nt                 launches, but JAXA plans to retire
                    it after two more launches and
                    replace it with low-cost H3.
 2003-  Hayabusa    The spacecraft made a rendezvous
 2010               on an asteroid named Itokawa in
                    2005 and marked the world's first
                    mission to deliver asteroid
                    samples to the earth in 2010.
 2007-              The lunar orbiter obtained
 2009    Kaguya     high-definition images of the
        (SELENE)    moon's surface and other
                    scientific data until manually
                    sent to crash onto the moon.
 2014-              The successor to Hayabusa touched
 Prese   Hayabusa2  down on the asteroid Ryugu in 2019
 nt                 and brought a sample capsule back
                    to the earth in 2020. JAXA keeps
                    operating the craft to study
                    planetary defence from small
                    celestial objects approaching the
                    earth.
 Octob  Epsilon-6   JAXA manually destroyed the sixth
 er                 model of Epsilon solid-fuel small
 2022               rocket after launching because of
                    its deviant trajectory, marking
                    Japan's first rocket launch
                    failure since 2003.
 Novem  OMOTENASHI  The small probe was meant to
 ber                achieve Japan's first soft landing
 2022               on the moon. But JAXA lost contact
                    with it shortly after it was
                    launched as one of 10 secondary
                    payloads for the first mission of
                    NASA's Artemis Program.
 March  H3          JAXA manually destroyed the
 2023-              initial model of the new flagship
 Prese              rocket after launch due to engine
 nt                 ignition trouble, causing
                    widespread delays in Japan's space
                    missions including SLIM. H3's
                    second model is set be launched on
                    Feb. 15, 2024.
 April  Hakuto-R    Tokyo-based startup ispace inc
 2023   Mission 1    9348.T  attempted what could have
                    been the world's first
                    private-sector lunar landing, but
                    the spacecraft crashed onto the
                    moon due to altitude
                    miscalculation. The company plans
                    to launch the second mission in
                    the fourth quarter of 2024.
 July   Epsilon S   An engine of a new type of Epsilon
 2023               small rocket exploded at JAXA's
                    testing site. The accident delayed
                    upcoming satellite launch plans,
                    including Vietnam's earth
                    observation satellite that was due
                    to be brought to space by the
                    first model of Epsilon S.
 Septe  SLIM        JAXA launched SLIM two weeks after
 mber               Indian counterpart achieved its
 2023-              Chandrayaan-3 mission to the
 Prese              unexplored lunar south pole. SLIM
 nt                 took a fuel-efficient four-month
                    trajectory to the moon and will
                    start a 20-minute touchdown phase
                    from 1500 GMT Friday.
 Sources: JAXA, National Diet Library, Reuters reports

 (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya
Editing by Frances Kerry)
 ((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya;))