by Japan landed its Smart Lunar Investigation, or SLIM, on the moon’s surface on January 20, 2024. Despite a power issue with the lander, the event has political and technical significance. This is Japan’s first moon landing – making it only the fifth country in the world to successfully land on the Moon. This is a significant achievement and cements Japan’s position as a leader in space technology.
Although the craft managed to land on the lunar surface with its rovers deployed, SLIM’s solar cells were not functioning properly – meaning the craft would likely only operate for a few hours the clock.
I am an international affairs student studying 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 – a growing global interest in lunar activities.
Precision technology
Japan’s achievement is not only symbolic – Japan is demonstrating some new technologies with the lander. The name, Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, refers to the spacecraft’s new precision landing technology.
This technology could help future landings by allowing spacecraft to land in relatively small areas among rocky or uneven terrain, rather than having to seek out large clearings. This capability will be extremely important in the future as countries focus on very specific areas of interest at the lunar South Pole.
The lander also carried two small rovers, each of which will demonstrate new technology for moving on the Moon.
Lunar Expedition Vehicle 1 includes a camera, as well as scientific equipment, and uses a hopping mechanism to maneuver on the Moon.
Lunar Expedition Vehicle 2, developed in partnership between government, industry and academia, is a sphere small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Once on the surface, its two halves separate slightly, allowing it to roll around.
SLIM is designed to land within a 328-foot (100-meter) zone, much smaller than previous lunar landers that had landing zones spanning several kilometers.
SLIM used a video-based navigation system that captured images of the lunar surface. His system quickly compared these images to crater patterns on lunar maps developed by JAXA with data from previous missions.
As countries identify areas most likely to hold useful resources, such as water in the form of ice, precision landing technology will allow agencies to avoid nearby hazards and reach those areas without incident.
International relations back on earth
These activities have a geopolitical dimension. China, India and Japan – the three nations that have successfully landed on the Moon since 2000 – engage in regional competition over a number of areas, including space. In addition to regional affairs, these achievements help establish nations as leaders on a global scale – capable of something few nations have ever done.
The Japanese launch comes just six months after India’s moon landing and just weeks after a failed attempt by US company Astrobotic.
Russia and the private company iSpace made unsuccessful landing attempts in 2023. Japan’s success in landing on the Moon – even as solar panel issues shortened the mission’s timeline – shows that JAXA has a big role in the effort this world.
Despite recent setbacks, such as NASA announcing delays to its next Artemis mission, the US remains the clear leader in space and lunar exploration. NASA currently has multiple spacecraft orbiting the moon, and has already successfully launched the SLS rocket, which is capable of returning humans to the Moon.
NASA is developing very large and complex systems internally – such as the Gateway space station, which is planned to orbit near the Moon, and the infrastructure for the Artemis missions to the Moon. It is not uncommon for these large and complex endeavors to experience some delays.
NASA has also recently turned over many smaller-scale efforts to commercial entities—as in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that supported the Astrobotic effort. This is a new approach that carries some risk, but it provides an opportunity for commercial innovation and growth of the lunar economy while giving NASA the ability to focus on large, complex aspects of the mission.
For the Moon, JAXA has partnered with the US and has taken on a very important component of the Artemis missions – the development of a pressurized lunar accelerator. This is new and complex technology that will be critical to human missions to the Moon in the coming years.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit, independent news organization that brings you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.
It was written by: Mariel Borowitz, Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Mariel Borowitz receives funding from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the US Department of Defense.
