Japan became the fifth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down around 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time on Jan. 20 (1520 GMT Jan. 19), according to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Several hours passed before mission control would get confirmation that the landing was a success, although it was not a complete success.
“The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirms that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully landed on the moon surface on January 20, 2024, at 0:20 am (JST). Communication with spacecraft has been established after the landing,” JAXA said in an official statement. “However, the solar cells are currently not generating power, and priority is given to data acquisition from the SLIM on the moon. Detailed analysis of the acquired data will be conducted in the future, and we will continue to share any updates on the situation.”
Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, a unit of Japan’s space agency, said his team suspects that the rovers onboard the lander were deployed, but without functioning solar panels, the batteries provide only a few hours of operating life.
Still, he said he sees the soft landing as having achieved “minimum” success.
Japan now joins an elite club of nations that includes the United States, the Soviet Union, Communist China, and India.
JAXA was shooting for a “pinpoint” landing near the Shioli crater that would allow it to use the probe to learn more about the moon’s origin, specifically testing the giant-impact theory that it was created when the Earth collided with another small planet, roughly the size of Mars.
But the main objective of the mission was to test JAXA’s new landing technology, proving it can put spacecraft wherever is desired rather than just where it is easy to land. Although most landings have aimed for landing zones six miles (10 km) in size, SLIM’s landing zone was just 330 feet (100 m) wide. Officials still have not been able to confirm whether a “pinpoint” landing was achieved.
The mission comes days after the private U.S. company Astrobotic Technology announced a catastrophic fuel leak shortly after the launch of its unmanned lunar lander Peregrine, aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
JAXA has partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the Artemis project to establish a permanent presence on the moon.
“The main goal of the ultimate program is to establish a human presence,” Sasaki Hiroshi, JAXA vice president and director general for Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, said during a pre-landing livestream, according to a translator. “While doing so, Japan will be contributing more on the robotics. And the first one is the crewed mission that will be setting foot on the lunar surface. And also another one we'll be sending pressurized rover for driving on the lunar surface.”
