Japan has joined the ranks of countries that have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon’s surface. The Moon Sniper lunar mission, also known as the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), has enabled Japan to become the fifth country to achieve this feat, following in the footsteps of the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India.
The Japanese spacecraft made contact with the moon’s surface on Friday at 9:05 pm Nepali time. However, it is said that the spacecraft’s solar cells have stopped to generate electricity. In that case, the spacecraft will not be able to perform scientific tests on the lunar surface.
1. Sea of Tranquility 2. Apollo 11 landing area 3. Moon Sniper Landing Area 4. Chandrayaan-3 Landing Area Image Source: CNN
Hiroshi Yamakawa, the head of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), stated, “The craft is currently running on battery power. Our priority is to transmit its data back to Earth.” The Moon Sniper is equipped with a limited battery life that will only last a few hours on the lunar surface, even if the heater is turned off.
So, to address this issue, Yamakawa mentioned that they hope to heat the solar panels using sunlight. He further revealed that the spacecraft landed within 100 meters of its intended target, a remarkable achievement considering that most missions typically land within a few kilometers of their target.
This precision landing is why it has been called by the name Moon Sniper. Although this particular mission has come to an end, JAXA believes that the technology utilized in the spacecraft will be valuable in the future. They hope to employ this technology to explore areas of the moon that could potentially provide vital resources such as oxygen and water in the future.
