Japan's 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit

[TruthSeeker]

Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas​

By Mike Wall, published 1 day ago

SLIM will attempt to pull off Japan's first-ever moon landing next month.

Artist's illustration of Japan's SLIM lander attempting its lunar touchdown, a milestone scheduled to occur on Jan. 19, 2024. (Image credit: ISAS/JAXA)

A Japanese spacecraft just took a huge step toward pulling off the nation's first-ever moon landing.

Japan's robotic SLIM moon lander arrived in lunar orbit on Christmas Day (Dec. 25) as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit at 2:51 a.m. EDT (4:51 p.m. Japan Standard Time, 0751 GMT).
"The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pleased to announce that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 16:51 (Japan Standard Time, JST) on December 25, 2023," JAXA officials wrote in an update. The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit that takes 6.4 hours to circle the moon, coming within 373 miles (600 kilometers) of the lunar surface at its closest point and reaching out to 2,485 miles (4,000 km) at its farthest.

Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas

SLIM will attempt to pull off Japan's first-ever moon landing next month.

www.space.com