Japan launches carrier rockets with its first lunar lander

The H2A rocket carrying Japan’s first lunar probe Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) was lunched on Thursday from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

The launch was shown live by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The launch of the lunar module was postponed several times due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The 2.4-meter, 200-kilogram SLIM probe is designed to explore the Moon's craters and topography using technologies similar to those used in facial recognition systems. SLIM is also equipped with a special camera that can measure the amount of iron and other elements in rocks on the lunar surface. The data obtained by the spacecraft will be used in particular as part of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lunar program Artemis.

The H2A carrier rocket is also carrying the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), which was built in collaboration with NASA.

Japan originally planned to send a module to the Moon in May, but the launch was postponed following an abortive launch of Japan's new H3 heavy-lift rocket. If the mission is successful, Japan will become the fifth country in the world after the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India to land its module on the Moon.

In April 2023, the Japanese company Ispace launched the Hakuto-R module, which was supposed to be the world's first privately developed vehicle to land on the Moon. However, communication with it was lost as it probably crashed while hitting the lunar surface.