Joining the global race for the moon, Japan on Thursday launched a rocket carrying a ‘smart lander’ for investigating moon (SLIM) along with an Xray telescope that will explore the origins of the universe.
Soon after the successful liftoff of the HII-A rocket of Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, Isro posted on X, “Congratulations JAXA on the successful launch of the SLIM lander to the moon. Best wishes for another successful lunar endeavour by the global space community.”
India, which recently became the first country to land its Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander on the moon’s south pole, will next launch a moon mission, Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, in partnership with JAXA aimed at exploring lunar polar region suitability for establishing a lunar base.
SLIM has been nicknamed ‘Moon Sniper’ because it is designed to land within 100 metres of a specific target. Just like Chandrayaan-3, SLIMwill take aroundabout journey of at least four months and is expected to reach the moon by February.
