Japan's 'Moon Sniper' probe aims for precision lunar landing today
Japan is making history as it aims to be the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon, with a groundbreaking precision landing today. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe, nicknamed the "Moon Sniper," plans to land within 100 meters of its target, a feat that has never been accomplished before. This cutting-edge technology is essential for the search for lunar water and the potential for human habitation.
SLIM probe's high-precision technology
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe will embark on a 20-minute touchdown phase from 3:00pm GMT (8:30pm IST). It will attempt to land on a target location about the size of two athletic tracks on a crater's slope just south of the lunar equator. "No other nation has achieved this. Proving Japan has this technology would bring us a huge advantage in upcoming international missions like Artemis," said Shinichiro Sakai, JAXA's SLIM project manager.
Japan's focus on niche technologies
Japan is concentrating on developing in-demand technologies such as near-infrared cameras and pinpoint landing, which international exploration projects will highly seek. "For lunar project development, Japan can't beat the US, China, or India in terms of resources," said Ritsumeikan University professor Kazuto Saiki, who developed SLIM's near-infrared camera to analyze moon rocks after the landing. "We should focus on building sought-after technologies."
SLIM's impact on future Moon missions
SLIM's demonstration and lightweight probe manufacturing could make moonshots more accessible to space organizations worldwide by reducing mission costs, said Bleddyn Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Leicester. JAXA estimates it will take nearly a month to confirm whether SLIM has achieved its high-precision goals after touchdown. Upon landing, SLIM will deploy two mini-probes - a hopping vehicle and a baseball-sized wheeled rover - developed by Sony, toymaker Tomy, and several Japanese universities.
