Japan's lunar explorer successfully entered the Moon's orbit Monday, the country's space agency said, with the spacecraft expected to land on its surface on Jan. 20 if the mission goes as planned.
Using its Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM, which was launched on an H2A rocket in September, Japan plans to become the fifth country to land an explorer on the lunar surface after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India amid intensifying global competition in space.
SLIM is designed to test technology for conducting pinpoint landings on the surface of gravitational bodies with unprecedented precision of less than 100 meters from intended targets, as opposed to conventional landers that often have an accuracy of within several kilometers, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
It is hoped that a successful precision landing by SLIM would realize a transition away from an era of "landing where we can" toward one of "landing where we want" for future Moon missions, which could include searching for water, requiring pinpoint landings on uneven surfaces such as slopes, according to JAXA.
If the landing is a success, the agency also hopes to help unravel the origins of the Moon by carrying out a composition analysis of rocks believed to be part of its mantle.
If SLIM misses the Jan. 20 window, the next landing opportunity would be around Feb. 16, JAXA said.
The rocket carrying SLIM was launched on Sept. 7 from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, with its initial launch scheduled around May delayed due to a failed liftoff of Japan's next-generation H3 rocket in March. It was postponed again in August due to the weather.
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