Japan launched its Lunar Exploration Intelligent Lander, or SLIM, ship onto the lunar surface on January 20, 2024. Despite a power issue with the lander, the event is of both political and technical significance. This is Japan’s first Moon landing; This makes it only the fifth country in the world to successfully land on the Moon
While the vehicle successfully landed on the lunar surface and deployed its rovers, SLIM’s solar cells were not working properly; This meant that the vehicle could probably only run for a few hours.
I am an international relations academic working on space. Like NASA and other space agencies, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, seeks to advance research and technology by demonstrating new techniques and collecting scientific data. The landing is also part of something bigger: growing global interest in lunar activities.
PRECISION TECHNOLOGY
Japan’s success is not just symbolic; Japan is introducing a number of new technologies with its lander. The name Intelligent Lander for Lunar Exploration refers to the spacecraft’s new precision landing technology.
This technology could aid future landings by allowing spacecraft to land in relatively small areas in rocky or rugged terrain rather than finding large openings. This capability will be particularly important in the future as countries focus on very specific areas of interest at the Moon’s south pole.
The lander also carried two smaller rovers, each of which would demonstrate a new technology for moving around the Moon.
Lunar Rover 1 contains a camera as well as scientific equipment and uses a jumping mechanism to maneuver on the Moon.
Developed in partnership with government, industry and academia, Lunar Rover 2 is a sphere small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. When it surfaces, the two halves separate slightly, allowing it to roll.
SLIM is designed to land in a 328-foot (100-meter) zone, much smaller than previous lunar landers that had landing zones stretching for miles.
SLIM used a vision-based navigation system that captured images of the lunar surface. Its system quickly compared these images to crater patterns on lunar maps that JAXA had developed with data from previous missions.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ARE BACK TO THE WORLD
These activities have a geopolitical element. China, India and Japan, the three countries that successfully landed on the Moon since 2000, are engaged in regional competition in many areas, including space. In addition to regional concerns, these achievements help nations become leaders on a global scale; This is something very few countries have ever achieved.
Japan’s launch comes just six months after India’s Moon landing and just a few weeks after US company Astrobotic’s failed attempt.
Despite recent setbacks, such as NASA’s announcement that the next Artemis mission has been delayed, the United States is still the clear leader in space and lunar exploration. NASA currently has multiple spacecraft orbiting the Moon and has already successfully launched the SLS rocket that could take humans back to the Moon.
NASA develops very large and complex systems within its own structure; for example, the Gateway space station, which is planned to orbit near the Moon, and the infrastructure for Artemis manned Moon missions. It is not uncommon for these large and complex works to experience some delays.
NASA has also recently contracted out many small-scale studies to commercial organizations, such as the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that supports Astrobotic’s initiative. It’s a new approach that involves some risk, but it provides opportunity for commercial innovation and growth of the lunar economy while giving NASA the ability to focus on the large, complex aspects of the mission.