Highlights:
1. Japan’s space agency, JAXA, is preparing to launch a lunar lander and an X-ray mission on the moon’s surface after the successful Chandrayaan 3 mission by India’s Moon mission.
2. The lunar lander, called Moon Sniper, aims to develop a small-scale testing system and utilize necessary landing technology for future exploration.
3. Japan will become the fifth country to successfully soft-land on the moon after Russia, the United States, China, and India.
4. Due to bad weather, the launch of the X-ray mission was postponed and it will now be launched from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex.
5. JAXA will be livestreaming the Japan X-ray mission event and has also posted about it on social media platform X.
After the successful mission of India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan 3, Japan is now gearing up for its own lunar exploration. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is planning to launch a lunar lander and an X-ray mission on the moon’s surface. The lander, named Moon Sniper in Japanese, will enter the moon’s orbit three to four months after its launch. The main objective of sending Japan’s Moon Sniper is to obtain a lightweight testing system and use essential pin-point landing technology for future exploration.
If successful, Japan will become the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon, following Russia, the United States, China, and India. The agency will also establish a satellite under the mission X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) in the Earth’s orbit to aid scientists in studying plasma in stars and galaxies.
Due to bad weather conditions, the mission was postponed on Saturday and is now scheduled to be launched from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center using the H-2A rocket. JAXA will be live telecasting the event for those interested in watching.
And, Japan’s moon mission is an exciting development in the field of space exploration and will contribute to our understanding of the universe.
