Japan's 'Moon Sniper' successfully lands on lunar surface, but solar cells not generating power

Japan's 'Moon Sniper' craft made a successful 'soft landing'on the lunar surface on Friday (January 19) but Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) has said that its solar cells are not generating enough power. With its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), Japan has become the fifth nation in the world to achieve alanding on the Moon. Before this, only the United States, Russia, China and India have been able to achieve this feat.

The latest successful Japanese mission came after JAXA's two failed lunar missions and rocket failures.

The 'Moon sniper' craftattempted to achieve 'pinpoint' landing on the surface of the Moon. The country has already carried out a similar landing on an asteroid but landing on the Moon is tricky because of its stronger gravity.

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Friday'slanding was attempted in a crater on the Moon where the lunar mantle - inner layer beneath the crust - is believed to be accessible from the surface.

Though the soft landing was a success, absolute silence from JAXA in the initial hour and absence of any immediate statement fuelled speculation that the spacecraft had crashed. The agency confirmed landing after more than an hour.

JAXA confirmed that the SLIM "landed on the Moon at 00:20 am on 20 January 2024 (Japan Time)."

"Communication has been established since landing," JAXA said.

"However, the solar cells are not generating power and data acquisition from the lunar surface is given priority," it added.

"The SLIM is operated with on-board batteries. The data acquired on landing is stored in the spacecraft, and we are currently working to maximise the scientific results by first transmitting this data back to Earth," said JAXA official Hitoshi Kuninaka.

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India recently carried out successful soft landing near the Moon's south pole.

But not all countries have tasted success. Just before India achieved success, Russian attempt to land a craft on Moon failed.

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US private firm Astrobotic too, did not see success in its attempt to land on the Moon.

After a successful lift-off on January 8 Astrobotic's Peregrine spacecraft suffered from an explosion and fuel leak. The company soon annouced that Peregrine will not be able to land on the Moon.

Astrobotic, along with NASA altered the trajectory of Peregrine and in the early hours of January 19 (Indian Standard Time) Peregrine entered Earth's atmosphere and burntoff.

(With inputs from agencies)