In the last few days we have written some new renders dedicated to this topic Moon mission China, which is scheduled to take place by 2030, and the (temporary) end of operations of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. There moon but it might be soon “Visited” from a new one Countries prepared by Japan called SLIMAcronym for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, which set off today along with an X-ray observatory (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission or XRISM) thanks to a NASA-led launch JAXA.
This mission has been planned for the past few weeks, the launch was scheduled for August 27, but was postponed due to the strong winds at altitude. Now that the mission has actually begun and everything seems to be going as planned, it will be possible to see one new lander on the lunar surface in the coming months. As with other missions, a low energy trajectory was chosen, allowing to limit the complexity and cost of the mission. We know this.
JAXA has launched a lunar lander and a new X-ray observatory
As reported in official press release from that JAXA (Japanese Space Agency), the launch was successful with the two devices on board. The missile used was one Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA (H-IIA F47) coupled to two boosters SRB-A3 took off today at 1:42 a.m. (Italian time) from Tanegashima Space Center. The agency confirmed that the two payloads separated properly after 14 minutes and 9 seconds XRISM and 47 minutes and 33 seconds later for SLIM.
Then the JAXA confirmed that the observatory signal XRISM has been acquired from both Japanese and US ground stations (the mission is in collaboration with NASA) and that the management of the solar panels is optimal. Also the SLIM lunar lander o Smart lander for studying the moon has successfully communicated with the control centers and thus started its journey to the moon moon.
especially the SLIM lander It will be important because of its landing style, which is different from that of other landers seen in the past (including India’s). The development of this device was aimed at carrying out a very precise landing on the lunar surface and avoiding potential danger zones with the highest precision. The technologies will also be useful for future robotic and human missions to explore our natural satellite. The Countries it has dimensions of 2.4 x 1.7 x 2.7 m with a dry mass of 200 kg and a fuel weight of 700 kg.
L’accuracy From landing should be from about 100 metersvery little for these types of missions, considering normally “Think about it” in kilometers. In order to carry out precision landing based on ground detection and guidance and control system, it should be possible to achieve the desired result JAXA.
The agency built this mission to be lightweight and cost-effective while reducing mass as much as possible. Of the criteria for assessing the success of the mission, it is expected that at least one can be achieved soft landing This checks the navigation system based on the image capture. Another criterion will be that you can land within a radius of 100 meters from the intended location.
The SLIM lander It will use a main engine (OME) for orbital maneuvering and speed control, as well as twelve low-power (22 kN) maneuvering engines. A radar, a laser rangefinder and a navigation camera are used for landing. Arrival in lunar orbit was calculated by JAXA in about 3-4 months and then stay in orbit for about a month.
