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As the first U.S. lunar lander mission in decades ends without reaching its goal, the spacecraft Japan The launched spacecraft approaches the moon and prepares for a historic landing attempt.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM) is expected to land on the lunar surface at 10:20 a.m. ET on Friday and 12:20 a.m. Saturday, Japan Standard Time. If successful, SLIM’s landing will mark Japan’s first time putting a robotic spacecraft on the moon, making it the third country to accomplish such a feat in the 21st century and the first spacecraft to land on the moon since 2019. becomes the fifth country to make a soft landing. Soviet Luna 9 mission in 1966.
The probe, also known as the “Moon Sniper” due to its precision technology, will begin its descent toward the moon’s surface at 10 a.m. Eastern time.landing Will be streamed live on YouTube In Japanese and English.
“The beginning of deceleration for the moon landing is expected to be a breathless, numbing 20 minutes of terror,” Kenji Kushiki, subproject manager for the SLIM mission, said in the article. . statement.
The small exploration lander is designed to demonstrate “pinpoint” landings at specific locations.
Other moon landings, etc. NASA’s Apollo The mission achieved extremely high precision in reaching specific zones, and SLIM’s technology is aimed at bringing precision to low-cost, lightweight robotic probes. JAXA says the technology will allow small landers to target specific locations on the moon, and is expected to allow SLIM to land on dangerous rocky terrain.
If successful, the space agency says the technology could allow future missions to “land on planets even more resource-poor than the Moon.”
“Nowadays, as we know more about the celestial objects we are targeting, and what we need to study has become more specific, it is now necessary to land with high precision near the object of study.” JAXA.
SLIM lander targets landing sites just 100 meters (328 feet) away Across. By comparison, Astrobotic Technologies’ Peregrine lunar module, the first U.S. lunar lander launched in more than 50 years, had a landing zone spanning several kilometers before a fuel leak forced it to abandon its mission. was the goal.
If SLIM misses this timing and attempts to land, it will be given another chance on February 16th.
JAXA
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s lunar lander “SLIM” was launched on September 7, 2023 from the Tanegashima Space Center using an H-IIA rocket.
slim lander Launched with the XRISM satellite in September (pronounced “crism”), also known as the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, is a joint JAXA and NASA mission. After launch, SLIM headed toward the Moon using its own propulsion system. The spacecraft successfully entered an elliptical lunar orbit on Christmas Day.
Since then enter orbit The lander passes through the moon’s north and south poles, moving closer and closer to the moon’s surface.
If the spacecraft lands safely, it will briefly explore the area where Apollo 11 landed in 1969, just south of a dark spot on the moon known as the Sea of Silence.
CNN/Getty Images/ISRO/lROC
1) sea of silence 2) Apollo 11 landing site 3) Shiori Crater targeted by SLIM Moon Sniper Four) Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing site
Unlike other recent robotic missions aimed at the moon’s south pole, SLIM will be located near a small lunar impact crater called Shiori, located within a plain known as the Sea of Honey, which scientists suspect was formed by ancient volcanic activity. Targeting location. There, scientists will investigate the composition of rocks that may help uncover the moon’s origins.
According to JAXA, “Detailed examination of such minerals may reveal information about the moon’s internal structure and formation.” “However, crater ejecta locations are usually avoided because it is difficult to land within an area littered with small ejecta on the slopes surrounding the crater.”
The SLIM spacecraft is equipped with vision-based navigation technology that JAXA calls “Smart Eye.” The spacecraft will take photos of the moon’s surface as it approaches, quickly locate the vehicle on a map pre-drawn by lunar satellites, and autonomously orbit the moon as it swoops toward landing. Adjust.
Kushiki said that in its final moments, the SLIM lander will be constantly pulled toward the lunar surface by the moon’s gravity, requiring the rover’s engines to fire continuously.
“Landing is a one-shot and cannot be undone,” he added.
The SLIM mission comes amid a renewed international push toward lunar exploration.
India became the fourth country to perform a controlled landing on the moon, following the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Chandrayaan-3 mission arrives in August Near the moon’s south pole.
But other recent missions have highlighted how difficult it will be to safely touch down to the moon’s surface.Last year, Japanese companies Ispace’s lunar lander Hakuto-R It fell 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) before colliding with the moon during a landing attempt in April. A Russian spacecraft called Luna 25 also crash-landed in August during its first attempt to return to the moon since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Peregrine mission, which launched on January 8th, was similarly the first U.S. lunar landing mission in decades, but a serious fuel leak forced the lander to abandon its goal after just a few hours. I had no choice but to do it. The spacecraft is expected to burn up as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.
A private company, Astrobotic, developed Peregrine for NASA. Another U.S. commercial lander built for the space agency by a company called Intuitive Machines could take off as early as mid-February.
While these recent robotic missions have all targeted different regions of the moon, much of the focus of this new lunar race is centered around the South Pole. Scientists suspect that water ice may be deposited in the region, parts of which are permanently in shadow. These resources could be filtered into drinking water for astronauts on future manned missions or converted into rocket fuel to explore the depths of space.
The moon’s south pole also has many landing hazards from craters and rocks. Future missions will need to be able to land within tight areas to avoid these features, which is one reason JAXA hopes SLIM’s precision landing technology will prove effective. is.
SLIM is also a lightweight design, which could be an advantage for government agencies planning more frequent missions to explore moons of other planets, such as Mars. If SLIM is successful, JAXA claims the mission will change from “landing where you can land to landing where you want.”
