Japan has become the fifth country to successfully land on the Moon, after Russia, US, China, and India.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has confirmed that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully landed on the moon’s surface on January 20, 2024, at 0:20 am (JST).
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirms that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully landed on the moon surface on January 20, 2024, at 0:20 am (JST). Communication with spacecraft has been established after the landing.
JAXA press release reads
However, the solar cells are currently not generating power, and priority is given to data acquisition from the SLIM on the moon. Detailed analysis of the acquired data will be conducted in the future, and we will continue to share any updates on the situation.
SLIM is a cargo research mission, carrying a variety of scientific payloads, including an analysis camera and a pair of lunar rovers.
Japan has previously failed in two lunar landing attempts.
JAXA lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander and scrubbed an attempted landing in November, while the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, by Japanese startup ispace, crashed in April as it attempted to descend to the lunar surface.
In 2019, two attempted lunar landings, by India’s Chandrayaan-2 and Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL’s Beresheet, had crashed. In those landing attempts, the trajectory and speed data went awry before the signals were lost.
In August 2023, Russia’s Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the moon.
