Japan starts precision landing of 'moon sniper' SLIM spacecraft (updated)
19/01/2024 13:55
(Recasts paragraph 2 that SLIM reached 15 km above the moon's
surface, adds quotes, background in paragraphs 12-15)
By Kantaro Komiya
TOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Japan gave the green light for
its spacecraft to make a "precision" landing on the moon on
Friday, its bid to become the world's fifth country to achieve a
moonshot and revitalise a space programme that has suffered a
wave of recent setbacks.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the Smart
Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) reached 15 km (9 miles)
above the moon's surface, where it will start an autonomous
20-minute descent from midnight on Saturday (1500 GMT Friday).
Dubbed the "moon sniper", SLIM is attempting to land within
100 metres (328 feet) of its target, versus the conventional
accuracy of several kilometres.
JAXA says this landing technology will become a powerful
tool in future exploration of hilly moon poles seen as a
potential source of oxygen, fuel and water - factors necessary
to sustain life.
JAXA will broadcast the touchdown on its YouTube channel,
but has said it will take up to a month to verify whether SLIM
had achieved the high-precision goals.
Japan is increasingly looking to play a bigger role in
space, partnering with ally the United States to counter China.
Japan is also home to several private-sector space startups and
the JAXA aims to send an astronaut to the moon as part of NASA's
Artemis programme in the next few years.
But the Japanese space agency has recently faced multiple
setbacks in rocket development, including the launch failure in
March of its new flagship rocket H3. The failure caused
widespread delays in Japan's space missions, including SLIM and
a joint lunar exploration with India, which in August made a
historic touchdown on the moon's south pole.
JAXA has twice landed on small asteroids, but a moon landing
is much more difficult due to its gravity. Three lunar missions
by Japanese startup ispace, Russia's space agency and American
company Astrobotic have failed in the past year.
Only four nations - the former Soviet Union, the United
States, China and India - and no private company have achieved a
soft landing on the moon's surface.
SLIM's successful touchdown and demonstration of the
precision landing "will help Japan to keep its technology
advanced at a very high level in the world," Ritsumeikan
University professor Kazuto Saiki said.
Saiki developed SLIM's near-infrared camera that will
analyse moon rocks after the touchdown.
"Mistakes happen, but Japan is a very experienced space
power - it's conducted very complicated space operations for
many years," said Bleddyn Bowen, a University of Leicester
associate professor specialising in space policy.
"Not as big as the United States or the Soviet Union of
old or China today in terms of scale, but in terms of capability
and niche advanced technologies, Japan has always been there."
SLIM's precision landing "won't be a game changer", but
the demonstration of it and the lightweight probe manufacturing
Japan has pursued might open up moonshots to space organisations
worldwide by reducing the cost of each mission, Bowen added.
On landing, SLIM will also deploy two mini-probes - a
hopping vehicle as big as a microwave oven and a baseball-sized
wheeled rover - that will take pictures of the spacecraft. Tech
giant Sony Group 6758.T , toymaker Tomy 7867.T and several
Japanese universities jointly developed the robots.
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Landings on the moon https://tmsnrt.rs/47V5zWF
PREVIEW-Japan counts down to precision 'moon sniper' landing
mission urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N3E62DI
EXPLAINER-Why is Japan's 'moon sniper' landing mission
important? urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3E906P
TIMELINE-Japan's space programs and moon missions
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N3E827N
NASA delays astronaut moon landing to 2026 amid spacecraft
'challenges' urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3DZ257
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(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; editing by Miral Fahmy and Nick
Zieminski)
((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya;))