The Japanese space agency JAXA has managed to launch a probe to the moon, which is believed to land very close to the target point. The Japanese have also launched a small X-ray telescope designed to find additional answers to questions about the origin of the universe, but this telescope remains much closer to Earth.

Launch of the Japanese H-2A missilePhoto: Noriaki Sasaki/AP/Profimedia

The launch was carried out at 8:42 a.m. (Japan time) from the Tanegashima Space Base using a Japanese H-2A rocket.

A SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon) module was sent to the Moon, nicknamed “Moon Sniper”, which should land in 4-6 months with very high accuracy, that is, at a maximum distance of 100 meters from the target, the face. from today’s average (several kilometers). The satellite target is called Shioli Crater.

Accuracy will be vital for much more complex missions in the future, when much larger payloads will be sent to the moon, and it will be important that they don’t end up too far from where they’re supposed to be. The module was successfully separated from the rest of the rocket 47 minutes after launch.

“The main goal of SLIM is to prove that high-precision selenization is possible. We want to land exactly where we want, not where we can,” said JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa.

If SLIM successfully reaches the moon, it will use the multispectral camera to analyze the composition of the lunar soil and rocks and learn more about the interior structure of the moon. The lander will NOT move around the moon, and there is NO rover.

The lander weighs 700 kg, but 70% of that weight is the fuel needed to get there. The probe is the size of a small minibus.

14 minutes after launch, the second key instrument — the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission — XRISM telescope, which will collect data from an altitude of 550 km from Earth, detached. XRISM was developed by NASA, JAXA and ESA and will focus on studying superheated gas around galaxy clusters.

Japan has suffered a series of setbacks in recent years, but it has advanced technology, reliable missiles and managed to launch the current mission with a budget of $100 million.

The H-2A missile was created by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Since 2001, 47 rocket launches have been carried out, with a success rate of 98%.

Sources: Reuters, AFP, New York Times