How Japan's SLIM lunar mission is different than Chandrayaan-3
Japan has successfully launched its lunar mission, the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Dubbed the "Moon Sniper," the mission aims to land on the Moon early next year. If that happens, Japan will become the world's fifth country to pull off a lunar landing. The $100-million mission was postponed three times due to unfavorable weather. It took off aboard an H-2A rocket.
SLIM's key objective would be to execute precise lunar landing
"The big objective of SLIM is to prove the high-accuracy landing...to achieve 'landing where we want' on the lunar surface, rather than 'landing where we can'," said Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). SLIM's targeted landing spot on the Moon is near Mare Nectaris, which refers to "large flat plains of solidified basaltic lava," per NASA. The area measures about 360km wide and appears as a dark spot when seen from Earth.
Chandrayaan-3 aimed to soft-land and perform roving
While Japan's lunar mission aims to perform a precise landing, Chandrayaan-3's objective was to soft-land near the Moon's south pole. After the soft landing on August 23, Chandrayaan-3 had to release the rover to navigate on the lunar surface and perform a host of in-situ experiments. India's lunar mission has completed all of its objectives. Since the sun has set at the Moon's south pole, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have been put to sleep till September 22.
The mission is expected to start landing by February
The SLIM mission is expected to land within 100 meters of its target site on the lunar surface. After landing, the craft will analyze the composition of olivine rocks near the sites in search of clues about the origin of the moon. It will also test advanced optical and image processing technology. The mission is expected to start landing by February after taking a fuel-efficient trajectory to the Moon.
Another X-ray imaging satellite launched alongside SLIM
Along with SLIM, JAXA has also launched another satellite called XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission). XRISM will study the extreme objects in the universe, including black holes. It will be able to detect X-rays emitted by gas released from galaxy clusters, and in this way will be able to provide insights into the evolution of the universe. It is a joint mission by JAXA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA.
SLIM could mark the first successful lunar landing for Japan
If SLIM is successful, it would mark Japan's first successful lunar landing. Japan's space missions have faced recent setbacks, with the launch failure of the Epsilon small rocket in October 2022. In April, the Hakuto-R lunar lander, developed by a Japanese start-up, crashed into the Moon as it attempted to land. Japan also aims to send an astronaut to the Moon's surface as part of NASA's Artemis program, sometime in the late 2020s.
