Japan’s ‘Slim’, aiming to become the world’s fifth lunar landing, has entered lunar orbit. Slim will attempt to land on the moon on January 20th next year.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on the 25th that Slim has entered orbit around the moon. The time it entered orbit was 4:51 pm on the 25th. Slim orbits in an elliptical orbit connecting the South Pole and the North Pole once every 6.4 hours. The closest point to the moon’s surface is about 600 km, and the farthest point is 4,000 km. JAXA explained, “The orbit change was carried out as scheduled, and the spacecraft’s current status is normal.”
Slim, launched on September 7, orbited the Earth and entered lunar orbit using the ‘gravity assistance (swing-by)’ method, which changes the direction of movement using the moon’s gravity. The distance to the moon will gradually decrease, lowering the closest point to an altitude of 15 km on January 19th next year, and the descent will begin at midnight on the 20th. The expected landing time on the lunar surface is 0:20 on January 20.
The lunar lander Slim entered an elliptical orbit (light blue orbit) around the moon at 4:51 pm on the 25th. Afterwards, the goal is to gradually narrow the distance to the moon and land at SHIOLI, a crater near 13 degrees south latitude on the moon, at 0:20 on January 20th next year. Provided by JAXAThis landing is Japan’s third attempt at landing on the moon. In November last year, JAXA’s exploration spacecraft ‘Omotenashi’ and private company iSpace’s ‘Hakuto-R’ each attempted to land, but failed. If the landing is successful, Japan will become the fifth country to successfully land on the moon, following Russia, the United States, China, and India.
Slim’s goal is ‘accurate landing’. Previous moon landings often deviated from the target point by several kilometers, but Slim’s goal is to reduce the error between the landing target and the actual landing point to within 100m. The landing target point is ‘Sioli’, a crater near 13 degrees south latitude on the moon. Slim plans to determine the origin of the moon by examining rocks with a special camera.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.