According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan attempted to become the fifth nation to land on the moon on Wednesday by sending a rocket there.
After weather conditions caused the launch to be postponed three times between Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, the H-IIA rocket launched from Tanegashma Space Center, which is on one of Japan’s southern islands, at 7:42 p.m. Eastern Time.
The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), a lunar lander, were aboard the rocket. The agency claims that both missions successfully separated after launch.
According to JAXA, SLIM is attempting to land on the moon precisely—within 100 meters (328 feet) of its target—rather than “somewhere on the moon.”
The organization hopes that this demonstration will open the door to a novel landing technique for future missions to the moon and even other planets.
“We will realize weight reduction for landing on planets with severe resource constraints and mounting higher performance observation equipment in anticipation of future solar system science exploration,” JAXA stated. We humans will make a qualitative shift from the traditional landing, where it is simple to land, to the landing we want to do.”
As a result of the eco-friendly course it is taking, Thin isn’t supposed to land until mid 2024.
Japan will become the fifth nation after the United States, Russia, China, and India to land on the moon if the mission succeeds. India became the fourth nation to do so when its spacecraft landed on the moon on August 23. It was the first nation to do so in the lunar south pole region, where it is expected to stay for two weeks to carry out experiments and collect data.
On August 19, Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft collided with the moon’s surface after its space agency lost contact and attempted a similar mission to India. Later, images from Luna 25’s crater of 33 feet were released by NASA.
Meanwhile, JAXA describes XRISM as a space observatory, complete with a telescope, X-ray imager, and spectrometer for electromagnetic radiation detection.
It intends to measure the elements found in galaxies and stars as well as space plasma, which is the fourth state of matter and is made up of ionized gases.
According to the organization, XRISM will also investigate “the formation of large-scale structures formed by stars, galaxies, and groups of galaxies will be clarified in unprecedented detail.”
Japan has attempted to land on the moon before. The nation sent off the OMOTENASHI (Exceptional MOon investigation Advances exhibited by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor) close by NASA’s Artemis I mission in November 2022.
Weighing only 30 pounds, it would have been the littlest lunar lander to at any point arrive at the outer layer of the moon. However, JAXA was forced to scrub recovery operations after losing communication within a day.
In addition, a private lunar landing mission known as Hakuto-R Mission 1 was launched in December 2022 with an attempt to land in April 2023. However, communication was lost, and the mission crashed.
