The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) decided to repeat the unmanned landing attempt on the lunar surface, the NHK television channel reported on December 1.
It is expected to use its SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) probe and will attempt to become the fifth country to do so on January 20. The lander was successfully launched from the Tanegashima Cosmodrome in September and successfully flew around the Moon in the first month of its existence.
It should be noted that on December 25, the spacecraft will be launched into lunar orbit, after which preparatory work will begin to correct the altitude and flight path of the object. The descent is scheduled to begin around midnight on January 20 (6:00 p.m. on January 19, Moscow time), and will last about 20 minutes.
Previously, the department intended to attempt to plant SLIM between late January and early February. Japan hopes to use its module to achieve a deviation of no more than 100 meters from the intended landing site.
Recall that the previous attempt to take a Japanese spacecraft to the Moon failed at the end of April. The lunar module, developed by a private company, crashed due to a failure in the system for calculating the altitude to the surface.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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