A Japanese lunar lander has successfully entered moon’s orbit, the Japanese space agency reports
The agency, JAXA, announced on Monday that its ‘Smart Lander for Investigating Moon’ (SLIM) had been effectively inserted into the moon’s orbit at 16:51 (Japan time)/08:51 (Brussels time).
“The descent towards the moon will start around 00:00 Japanese time on the 20th January” while the landing is expected some 20 minutes later, JAXA said.
The Japanese rocket transporting the compact lunar module SLIM, dubbed “Moon Sniper”, was launched from the archipelago last September.
Should the module succeed in its mission, utilising a high-precision landing technology capable to land within a maximum of 100m target compared to the usual several kilometres radius, it would be an “unprecedented” achievement, JAXA commented earlier this month.
“The results should be used in international space exploration programmes currently under study.”
A Japanese astronaut could also step foot on the lunar surface for the first time, potentially as early as 2025, as part of the US’s Artemis manned missions, Japan's Kyodo news agency reports on Sunday.
Earlier this year in August, India managed to land its first spacecraft on the moon. Previously only the US, the Soviet Union, and China had accomplished this feat.
