Japan Launches Lunar Mission with “Moon Sniper” Lander

Japan on Thursday launched a rocket carrying its “Moon Sniper” lander with an aim to touch down on the lunar surface. The H2-A rocket blasted off at 8:42 am (23:42 GMT Wednesday) carrying the “Moon Sniper” lander. This lander is expected to land on lunar surface in four to six months.

The rocket lifted off from Tanegashima in southern Japan. This rocket also carried a research satellite developed jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA and the European Space Agency.

Japan’s lunar lander, is officially called the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). It is designed to land within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon.

“By creating the SLIM lander humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land,” JAXA said before the launch.

“There are no previous instances of pinpoint landing on celestial bodies with significant gravity such as the Moon,” JAXA said.

Japan’s previous attempts to land on moon have failed, including last year when it sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States’ Artemis programme.