2023-12-25 11:44:00
The Japanese Space Agency (Jaxa) “is pleased to announce that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit at 4:51 p.m. Japan time (8:51 a.m. Brussels time) on Monday, Jaxa said in a statement.
“The descent towards the Moon will begin around 00:00 Japanese time on January 20” and the moon landing is planned around 20 minutes later, added Jaxa.
The Japanese rocket carrying the small SLIM lunar module, nicknamed “Moon Sniper”, took off in September from the archipelago under the eyes of more than 35,000 people on YouTube.
The United States wants to return to the Moon by the end of January
If the module succeeds in its mission thanks to high-precision lunar landing technology, at a maximum of 100 meters from its target compared to several kilometers usually, it will be an “unprecedented” feat, Jaxa commented at the beginning of the month. .
“The results should be used in international space exploration programs currently under study,” she added.
A Japanese astronaut might also set foot on lunar soil for the very first time, in 2025 at the earliest, as part of the United States’ Artemis manned missions, the Kyodo agency reported on Sunday.
Last August, India succeeded in landing its first spacecraft on the Moon. Before her, only the United States, the Soviet Union and China had already achieved such a feat.
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