Get the latest tech news

Japan's Successful Moon Landing Was the Most Precise Ever


Japan has become the fifth country in the world to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon, using precision technology that allowed it to touch down closer to its target landing site than any mission has before. However the spacecraft might have survived on the lunar surface for just a few hours due to p...

Japan has become the fifth country in the world to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon, using precision technology that allowed it to touch down closer to its target landing site than any mission has before. Nature: Telemetry showed that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down in its target area near Shioli crater, south of the lunar equator early Saturday morning, four months after lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Centre, off the south coast of Japan. [...] According to [Hitoshi] Kuninaka (VP of Kanegawa-based Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), SLIM has very likely achieved its primary goal -- to land on the Moon with an unprecedented accuracy of 100 metres, which is a big leap from previous ranges of a few to dozens of kilometres.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Slashdot

Read more on:

Photo of Japan

Japan

Photo of moon landing

moon landing

Related news:

News photo

Japan’s SLIM lander powers down on the moon as it awaits the sun’s rays

News photo

Japan's "Moon Sniper" is a high-precision lunar lander developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The lander, officially known as the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), successfully touched down on the lunar surface on January 19, 2024.

News photo

Japan probe lands on Moon in precision touchdown mission