Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, December 6, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on December 5 that its robot probe "Intelligent Lunar Exploration Lander (SLIM,Smart Lander for Investigating Moon)" plans to achieve Japan's first lunar landing in the early hours of January 20 next year.

The 2.7m-long SLIM probe was launched on a Japanese Hmuri 2A rocket on Sept. 6, along with the X-ray space telescope XRISM. XRISM has been successfully deployed into low-Earth orbit, while SLIM has begun its journey to the moon.

According to the plan, the probe will enter the lunar orbit on the 25th of this month, begin to descend around 0: 00 a.m. on January 20 next year, and land about 20 minutes later.

If the SLIM lands successfully, Japan will become the fifth country after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India to land the probe on the moon, which could also open the door to Japan's more ambitious exploration missions in the future.

"the SLIM aims to achieve a precise landing with an error of no more than 100m," said JAXA executives. "this will mark an unprecedented high-precision landing on gravity objects such as the moon, and the results are expected to contribute to the international space exploration program currently under study."

SLIM also carries two small probes that will be deployed to the lunar surface after landing. The two probes will take pictures of the landing site, help the SLIM team monitor the status of the SLIM and provide an independent communication system for direct communication with Earth. A special camera on the SLIM body will analyze the lunar mineral olivine.

JAXA said that if it is determined to be difficult to land on January 20 next year because of a failure, it will try again in February.

CTOnews.com noted that earlier this year, the Hakuto-R lander built by Tokyo-based ispace successfully reached lunar orbit, but crashed during the landing attempt because it was confused by the edge of the lunar crater.

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