While there is clearly a US effort led by NASA to return humans to the moon, the US has yet to land an unmanned mission on it this century. In contrast, China and India have been successful. Meanwhile, a statement by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) indicates that it is very likely to become the third country to land on the moon in the 21st century – this could happen as early as next year.
JAXA announced earlier this week that the lunar lander SLIM (abbreviated from Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) has reached a significant milestone in its historic mission – the spaceship has started orbiting the Moon. Over the next few weeks, SLIM will continue its journey towards the lunar surface. If all goes as planned, Japan could achieve this historic success on January 19, when it tries to land SLIM on the lunar surface.
It should be noted that Japan has previously explored the moon, but this would be the first time the country would attempt to land a lander with rover-like probes on its surface.
If this Japanese mission is successful, it will join India and China who have reached the lunar surface this century. India succeeded in this year’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, while China carried out a series of Chang’e missions and also successfully reached the destination.
2023-12-29 10:00:00
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