Japan's Moon Lander Hits Its Target
2024-01-26
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1Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Thursday that its first lunar mission landed within 100 meters of its target over the weekend.
2Japan became the fifth country to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the moon early on Saturday.
3But trouble with the spacecraft's power system made it difficult to know whether it landed in the target area at first.
4Earlier moon landers targeted landing areas as large as 10 kilometers.
5However, with its improved accuracy, Japan's SLIM aimed at a target area of just 100 meters.
6Shinichiro Sakai is JAXA's project leader for the lander.
7He said, "We proved that we can land wherever we want."
8Sakai hoped that it would bring more missions "to try to land on unexplored places on the moon."
9One of the lander's two main engines stopped working during the landing, causing SLIM to move 55 meters away from the target area to another position, Sakai said.
10Without engine trouble, he said SLIM could have landed as close as three to four meters from the target.
11However, the spacecraft could not produce power after landing.
12JAXA scientists said its solar panels might be facing the wrong direction.
13JAXA said it received all data about the touchdown within the two hours and 37 minutes before the lander lost power.
14Officials said there is still hope the craft will be able to recharge when that side of the moon enters daytime in the coming days.
15The power outage meant the lander's camera could only capture low-resolution images, JAXA said.
16The goal of landing within a target area of less than 100 meters led scientists to call SLIM the "moon sniper."
17It used "vision-based" guidance that JAXA says could be a powerful tool for future exploration of the moon's mountainous areas.
18These areas might hold resources of fuel, water and oxygen.
19Japan follows the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India as nations reaching the moon's surface.
20The mission was the result of 20 years of work on precision technology by JAXA.
21JAXA has experience with difficult space landings.
22Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long asteroid Ryugu.
23Hayabusa2 collected material that was returned to Earth for scientific research in 2020.
24In the past year, three lunar missions have failed. One by Russia's space agency; one by a private Japanese company and another by a private U.S. company.
25However, more lunar landers will head to the moon this year.
26U.S. company Intuitive Machines aims to launch its IM-1 lander in mid-February.
27China plans to send its Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the far side of the moon in the first half of the year.
28And the American space agency NASA is planning its lunar polar exploration rover VIPER for November.
29I'm Gena Bennett.
1Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Thursday that its first lunar mission landed within 100 meters of its target over the weekend. 2Japan became the fifth country to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the moon early on Saturday. But trouble with the spacecraft's power system made it difficult to know whether it landed in the target area at first. 3Earlier moon landers targeted landing areas as large as 10 kilometers. However, with its improved accuracy, Japan's SLIM aimed at a target area of just 100 meters. 4Shinichiro Sakai is JAXA's project leader for the lander. He said, "We proved that we can land wherever we want." Sakai hoped that it would bring more missions "to try to land on unexplored places on the moon." 5One of the lander's two main engines stopped working during the landing, causing SLIM to move 55 meters away from the target area to another position, Sakai said. Without engine trouble, he said SLIM could have landed as close as three to four meters from the target. However, the spacecraft could not produce power after landing. JAXA scientists said its solar panels might be facing the wrong direction. 6JAXA said it received all data about the touchdown within the two hours and 37 minutes before the lander lost power. Officials said there is still hope the craft will be able to recharge when that side of the moon enters daytime in the coming days. 7The power outage meant the lander's camera could only capture low-resolution images, JAXA said. 8Moon sniper 9The goal of landing within a target area of less than 100 meters led scientists to call SLIM the "moon sniper." 10It used "vision-based" guidance that JAXA says could be a powerful tool for future exploration of the moon's mountainous areas. These areas might hold resources of fuel, water and oxygen. 11Japan follows the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India as nations reaching the moon's surface. The mission was the result of 20 years of work on precision technology by JAXA. 12JAXA has experience with difficult space landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long asteroid Ryugu. Hayabusa2 collected material that was returned to Earth for scientific research in 2020. 13In the past year, three lunar missions have failed. One by Russia's space agency; one by a private Japanese company and another by a private U.S. company. However, more lunar landers will head to the moon this year. 14U.S. company Intuitive Machines aims to launch its IM-1 lander in mid-February. China plans to send its Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the far side of the moon in the first half of the year. And the American space agency NASA is planning its lunar polar exploration rover VIPER for November. 15I'm Gena Bennett. 16Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters sources. 17_________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19mission -n. a flight of a spacecraft aimed at a specific goal or task 20accuracy -n. the level to which something is free from error 21solar panel -n. Flat devices that turn sunlight into direct electric current 22recharge -v. to process of adding electrical charge to a battery or device that stores electricity 23resolution -n. the level of detail that is visible in an image; the level of accuracy of a measuring device 24precision -n. to level to which something is exact and the way it is supposed to be designed 25asteroid -n. a body orbiting the sun that is smaller than a planet or what some scientists call a dwarf planet 26We want to hear from you. 27Our comment policy is here.