Japan's probe enters lunar orbit, what happens now?
Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) entered the Moon's orbit on Christmas Day. This has taken Japan close to its first successful landing on Earth's only satellite. If Japan succeeds, it will be fifth country in the world to land a probe on the lunar surface. Till date, United States, Russia, China and India have been successful in such an attempt.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Monday that SLIM "successfully entered the moon's orbit at 04:51 pm Japan time" (0751 GMT)"
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"Its trajectory shift was achieved as originally planned, and there is nothing out of the ordinary about the probe's conditions," the agency said.
What next for Japan's Moon mission?
The lander, which has now been inserted in the lunar orbit, is slated to begin on January 20, at around 12 am Japan time. JAXA has said that the lander will land 20 minutes later.
JAXA's Moon lander was lifted-off into space by an H-IIA rocket. The lift-off took place in the month of September from southern Japanese island of Tanegashima. The lift-off took place after three postponements due weather-related reasons.
Earlier this month, JAXA said that the mission will be an "unprecedentedly high precision landing" on the Moon. Interestingly, the lander has a spherical probe that was developed in association with a toy company. The probe is slightly bigger than a tennis ball. It is capable of changing its shape in order to move on the lunar surface.
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At the time of landing, JAXA is aiming for margin of error of under 100 metres. This when compared to error margins of "a few or 10-plus kilometres" kept by other countries is quite remarkable. JAXA has said that its margin of error was once thought impossible and is culmination of decades of effort by researchers.
"Gone are the days when merely exploring 'somewhere on the moon' was desired," said Shinichiro Sakai, JAXA's SLIM project manager earlier this month.
(With inputs from agencies)