Thirteen minutes after the launch, the rocket put into orbit around Earth a satellite called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, which will measure the speed and makeup of what lies between galaxies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours after launch on Thursday, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said it picked up signals from SLIM showing it was operating normally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is the landing significant?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Simply put, the aim of the SLIM is to land where is planned as opposed to where it is easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan is aiming to become the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface, with the launch of a low-cost “Moon sniper” that will test precision-landing technology designed to further Tokyo’s space goals.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The big objective of SLIM is to prove the high-accuracy landing … to achieve ‘landing where we want’ on the lunar surface, rather than ‘landing where we can’,” JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the Moon.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency added there were no previous instances of pinpoint landing on celestial bodies with significant gravity such as the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NASA says pinpointing landing sites would allow exploration in previously hazardous locations and enable advanced supply missions to a single location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University, believes the mission is significant for delivering insight into the properties of hot plasma, or the superheated matter that makes up much of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plasmas have the potential to be used in various ways, including healing wounds, making computer chips and cleaning the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Understanding the distribution of this hot plasma in space and time, as well as its dynamical motion, will shed light on diverse phenomena such as black holes, the evolution of chemical elements in the universe and the formation of galactic clusters,” Mr Alexander said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, when a spacecraft landing is planned, an area dubbed a “landing eclipse” is zoned to allow for enough space to land safely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first mission to put humans on the Moon, Apollo 11, had an area of 17.7 kilometres by 4.8km. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Decades later, NASA put the Curiosity Rover on Mars with an ellipse of 19.3 km by 6.4 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both of these examples are significantly larger than what JAXA is aiming for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The launch also comes two weeks after India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon<\/a> with its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the unexplored lunar south pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the same time, Russia’s Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SLIM will be relying on high-resolution images of the Moon captured by past missions to compare with real-time images and land precisely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its primary goal is to test advanced optical and image processing technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lander is also equipped with a spherical probe that was developed with a toy company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slightly bigger than a tennis ball, it can change its shape to move on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not great. This is the nation’s third attempt to reach the Moon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Japanese startup company ispace says there is a “high probability” its unmanned spacecraft has crashed on the moon.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nJapan’s ‘Moon sniper’ to test precision landing<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How does landing area compare to previous missions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What technology is JAXA using? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How have Japan’s past space attempts gone?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Private Moon landing likely to have failed<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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