After many delays, Japan’s H2A moon rocket was finally launched this morning and began to the moon another exploration.
According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan’s H2A Rocket 47 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at around 8:42 p.m. local time on the 7th of July, carrying the lunar probe “SLIM” and the X-ray astronomy satellite “XRISM”. XRISM”.
Thirteen minutes after launch, the rocket successfully placed the X-ray astronomy satellite “XRISM” into a 500-kilometer Earth orbit, which is mainly tasked with detecting deep-space X-rays and observing the astrophysical phenomenon of high-energy particle jets generated by black holes formed by clusters of galaxies.
The Small Lunar Lander (SLIM) has successfully entered a large elliptical orbit of the Earth and is expected to attempt a lunar landing in January/February 2024, after which it will take 3-4 months to enter an orbit around the Moon. If successful, Japan will become the fifth country after the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India to land on the surface of the Moon.
This is not Japan’s first attempt to land on the moon. In November last year, the United States Artemis I spacecraft carrying the Japanese-made “Hospitable” detector launched, but then appeared to be out of contact, and therefore can only be left unattended.
In April of this year, Japan’s first commercial lunar lander, developed by Japan’s ispace company, again challenged to go to the moon, but failed because it was disconnected while attempting to land.
