Japan aims attempting a precision moon landing on Friday, in what would be a boost for a space programme.
Dubbed the “moon sniper”, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe is attempting to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target, a technology JAXA says is unprecedented and essential in the search for moon water and human habitability.
Japan is increasingly looking to play a bigger role in space, partnering with close ally Washington. Japan boasts a number of private-sector space startups and aims to send an astronaut to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis programme.
But JAXA has faced multiple setbacks, including a launch failure in March of the new flagship rocket H3 that was meant to match cost-competitiveness against commercial rocket providers like SpaceX.
JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe will start a 20-minute touchdown phase on its one-way mission from midnight on Saturday (1500 GMT Friday), trying to land on a target site roughly the size of two athletic tracks on the slope of a crater 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.
JAXA stresses its high-precision technology will become a powerful tool in future exploration of hilly moon poles, seen as a potential source of oxygen, fuel and water. Japan also plans a joint unmanned lunar polar exploration with India in 2025.
“For lunar project development, Japan can’t beat the U.S., China or India in terms of resources,” said Kazuto Saiki, a Ritsumeikan University professor who developed SLIM’s near-infrared camera that will analyse moon rocks after the landing.
“We should focus on building sought-after technologies like the pinpoint landing and near-infrared cameras which overseas exploration projects will strive to adopt.”
JAXA has twice landed on small asteroids, but a moon landing is much more difficult due to its gravity, as seen in a number of recent failures.
