فضاء
اليابان تنضم إلى سباق القمر
September 7, 2023 - أطلقت اليابان مهمة قمرية، على أمل أن تصبح الدولة الخامسة في العالم التي تهبط على سطح القمر بعد الولايات المتحدة وروسيا والصين والهند.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).
Japan aims to land SLIM within 100 metres of its target location – much closer than conventional lunar landers, which usually have an accuracy of several kilometres.
The landing mission will study the origins of the moon and test technology that is critical to future moon landing programs, experts said.
The launch comes two weeks after India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the unexplored lunar south pole. Around the same time, Russia's Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the moon.
The rocket was also carrying the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a joint project between the Japanese, American and European space agencies.