After India’s Chandrayaan-3 success, Japan aims to make 1st-ever moon landing on January 20 with SLIM

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is poised to mark a historic milestone with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), slated to execute the first-ever landing on the lunar surface on January 20. Should this mission succeed, Japan will become one of five nations - including Russia, the US, China, and India - to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

The journey of SLIM, alongside the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), commenced with their launch aboard a domestically produced H-IIA rocket from Japan back in September.

At 2.7 meters in length, the SLIM craft is reported to be "operating smoothly," as affirmed by JAXA in an official statement.

Initially planned for January or February 2024, the lunar landing schedule has been brought forward due to the seamless progress of operations. The revised date is now set for January 20, 2024, a Saturday, according to the latest statement by JAXA.

The targeted landing site for SLIM is the slope of Shioli Crater, nestled within Mare Nectaris. Positioned at 13 degrees south latitude and 25 degrees east longitude on the near side of the moon, this 300-metre-wide impact feature presents a relatively fresh terrain for exploration.

JAXA outlined contingency plans, indicating that if the landing faces a setback, the next opportunity is earmarked around February 16, 2024.

Termed the "Moon Sniper" in Japanese, SLIM's primary objective is a pinpoint landing with an astounding accuracy goal of less than 100 metres. This precision landing on a celestial body like the Moon represents an unprecedented feat, with anticipated implications for international space exploration endeavours currently under consideration.

Japan's pursuit of lunar exploration has encountered setbacks in the past. JAXA encountered communication loss with the OMOTENASHI lander and aborted a landing attempt in November. Additionally, the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, operated by the Japanese startup ispace, suffered a crash in April during its descent towards the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, Chandrayaan-3, the third installment in the Chandrayaan programme by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), embarked on a lunar exploration mission. The mission featured a lunar lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan, mirroring those deployed during Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.

Launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14th July 2023, the spacecraft achieved lunar orbit on 5th August. It successfully landed near the Lunar South Pole at 18:03 IST (12:33 UTC) on 23rd August. This landmark event made India the fourth nation to touch down on the Moon and the first to do so near the lunar south pole. On 3rd September, the lander manoeuvred itself, shifting 30–40 cm (12–16 in) from its initial landing position. Hopes were high for the lander and rover to resume additional tasks after completing their primary mission objectives.  The propulsion module departed lunar orbit through a series of manoeuvres, re-entering Earth's orbit on 22nd November 2023.

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