ANTARIKSA — The Japanese lunar lander, SLIM landed on the moon on Friday, January 19 2024, evening. However, it is not yet clear whether the vehicle survived the historic maneuver.
The robotic spacecraft hit the moon’s gray soil as scheduled at 10.20 EST morning, or 22.00 WIB. However, that’s all that is known at the moment.
“From telemetry, what we see is that SLIM has landed. “We are now checking its status,” said a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shortly after the landing.
JAXA will hold a press conference this Saturday. “At an unspecified time, to provide the latest information regarding the condition of the lander,” said the commentator on the live broadcast of the landing.
Also read: Tonight, a Japanese plane landed on the moon and broadcast live
If the SLIM landing is successful, it would make Japan the fifth country to land on the moon. Other countries were the Soviet Union, United States, China, and India.
The landing seemed to go smoothly, SLIM achieved various records during its descent to the moon. However, JAXA could not immediately confirm the status of the lander. So we have to wait for the update.
SLIM stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) and aims to land within 100 meters of its target location on the edge of the Shioli Crater. Because of this, he was nicknamed the “Moon Sniper.”
SLIM also aims to show that small, relatively inexpensive spacecraft are capable of impressive exploration. The probe weighs just 200 kilograms without propellant, and the mission cost around 120 million US dollars to develop.
Also read: Japanese SLIM aircraft arrives in lunar orbit and prepares to land
SLIM Mission
If the probe survives its landing attempt, SLIM will study its surroundings, a patch of Mare Nectaris located about 15 degrees south of the moon’s equator. For that mission, he carried a spectrometer. The instrument data will reveal the composition of the area, which in turn could explain the formation and evolution of the moon.
If all goes according to plan, SLIM will also deploy two small rover robots; LEV-1 and LEV-2. LEV is short for Lunar Excursion Vehicle.
The LEV-1 is designed to jump across the lunar surface, and the ball-shaped LEV-2 will separate into two parts and crawl around the landing site. The two small robots will collect their own data and take photos, including images of the SLIM mothership. Source: Space.com
2024-01-19 19:23:00
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