First moonlanding for the japanese rocket

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a Lunar lander mission of the Japan Exploration Agency (JAXA). SLIM was successfully launched on 6th September 2023. It entered in lunar orbit on 25th December 2023. The lander successfully landed on the Moon surface on 19th January 2024, making Japan the fifth country to make a soft landing on the Moon.

The main purpose of this mission was to demonstrate precision lunar landing. During its descent, the lander recognized lunar craters by applying technology from facial recognition systems, and determined its current location from utilizing his observation data. SLIM makes a soft Moon landing with an accuracy of 100m.

The success of the SLIM mission marks a significant advancement in lunar exploration and could have a major implications for future lunar missions.

A.V.