Anticipation is reaching lunar heights as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) "Moon Sniper" prepares for a historic touchdown on the moon's surface this Friday (9:00 pm IST). The mission, carrying the aptly named Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM), marks a pivotal moment in the international space race and could revolutionize future lunar exploration.
In the event of a successful landing, SLIM's achievement would signify Japan's inaugural deployment of a robotic explorer on the lunar surface. This accomplishment would position Japan as the third country in the 21st century and the fifth nation overall to achieve a soft landing on the moon since the historic Soviet Luna 9 mission in 1966.
A nail-biting finale to a months-long journey, the landing will be broadcast live on YouTube in both Japanese and English. If successful, Japan will join the elite club of nations to have landed on the Moon, marking a major milestone in the international space race.
"The start of the deceleration to the landing on the Moon's surface is expected to be a breathless, numbing 20 minutes of terror," said Kenji Kushiki, the subproject manager of the SLIM mission, in a statement.
"Lunar orbiters such as Kaguya, the USA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and India's Chandrayaan missions have provided large amounts of high-resolution observation data of the lunar surface," explained Kushiki.
"Therefore, interest in lunar science and resource exploration has shifted from somewhere on the Moon's surface' to 'that rock next to this specific crater!" he said.
