JAXA launches lunar lander and space telescope on same rocket
BJ Warnick/Newscom/Alamy
Japan has launched two ambitious space missions on one rocket with the goal of landing a probe on the moon and setting up another X-ray telescope in orbit around the Earth.
If the Smart Lander for Lunar Research (SLIM) succeeds, Japan will become the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India. The craft was nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) because it is designed to land with precision within a circle with a radius of just 100 meters using numerous sensors and cameras. attached.
The mission will be the third moonshot in the past two months since India launched its Chandrayaan 3 mission on July 14 and Russia launched its Luna 25 mission on August 10. Luna 25 overtook Chandrayaan 3 on its way to the moon but failed in a catastrophic crash, while the Indian mission went ahead as planned.
SLIM was also born after the failure of Japan’s two previous lunar missions, Omotenashi and the privately-built Hakuto-R. was released on H-IIA rocket Launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on September 7, the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) telescope was deployed just over 14 minutes after takeoff, and the SLIM mission separated about 47 minutes later. The launch was scheduled for August 23rd. I was late because of bad weather.
The lunar rover will take up to four months to reach lunar orbit using a fuel-efficient route, then attempt to land in 2024 after about a month of orbit. The impact is absorbed by the 3D antenna and it lands on five legs. Printed aluminum dome.
After landing A spherical probe called Sora-QSlightly larger than a tennis ball and partially designed. Japanese toy maker responsible for developing Transformerswhich will rotate across the lunar surface, similar to a second rover called . Lunar Excursion Vehicle No. 1 (LEV-1)which “hops” over the surface.
XRISM is a collaboration of JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency, providing astronomers and astrophysicists a way to explore deep space orbiting the Earth at an altitude of approximately 550 kilometers. JAXA did not respond to the interview request, but XRISM Deployed solar panels It then made radio contact with a base station on Earth.
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