Japan's SLIM research module to land on moon next month

The landing of the first Japanese research module SLIM is scheduled for 00:20 January 20, 2024 Japan time (18:20 on January 19 Moscow time).

“On Saturday, January 20 at 00:00 Japanese time, the decline will begin. Landing should take place in 20 minutes,” The Storiest reports, citing the press service of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The JAXA source said that if the lunar landing operation is cancelled, the next opportunity will be on February 16.

The radius of the proposed landing zone is less than 100 meters, which is considered an unprecedentedly precise operation, the press service said.

SLIM (from English Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) is a Japanese automatic station that includes a landing module and two lunar rovers, one of which weighs only 250 grams. The station is equipped with cameras, and its computer is equipped with neural networks that work similarly to a facial recognition system. This will bring new data about the craters and topography of the Moon.

In addition, SLIM is capable of measuring the content of iron and other elements in the soil. The device was launched on September 7 from the Tanegashima Cosmodrome.

If the mission is successful, Japan will land a spacecraft on the Moon for the first time, becoming the fifth country to do so.

JAXA previously began developing Japan’s first methane-powered rocket engine.