JAXA to Send SLIM ‘Moon Sniper’ Lander to the Moon on August 26

The year of significant space exploration has begun, with multiple countries vying to reach the moon’s surface. The sheer number of missions planned and executed in 2023 is astonishing. Initially, India’s third moon mission, Chardrayaan-3, successfully launched and is set to land on August 23. Subsequently, Russia’s moon mission, which faced a 45-year delay, unfortunately ended in a spacecraft crash. Now, Japan’s Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is gearing up to launch its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), also known as ‘Moon Sniper’, on August 26.

There’s more! Several other lunar exploration missions are planned for the coming months of this year. First, let’s find out what Japan’s moon mission is all about.

About Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)

The launch of SLIM is planned as a shared payload with the XRISM mission using the H2A booster from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center. The scheduled launch is on August 26 at 7:00 AM IST. According to the JAXA report, SLIM aims to land on a difficult lunar region with limited resources, small size and reduced weight. The calculator is designed in a unique way with different calculation methods. The objective of the mission is to understand the various possibilities of landing on the lunar surface.

SLIM weighs 590 kilograms during launch and drops to 210 kilograms on the lunar surface. The goal of this mission is to reduce time and resources for future space exploration and increase understanding of the solar system.

The counter identifies a safe place to land. JAXA’s goal is that it hits the intended target with an accuracy of about 100 meters. This mission is JAXA’s first lunar mission.

The spacecraft consists of a landing radar for navigation or detecting any obstacle. It also includes a multi-band camera and a laser reflector array that performs special tasks to ensure a safe landing.