Japan became the fifth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon yesterday. The SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) spacecraft landed near the equator but now only has a few hours of battery power because the solar panels that supply the power failed to open.
The SLIM spacecraft is designed to test a more precise surface landing system than those previously used by America, Russia, China and India. It tries to land with an accuracy of 100 meters from the target compared to about 12 kilometers on the current landing system.
Although the Japan Space Agency (JAXA) announced the success of the SLIM mission, there is still no information on whether the solar panels have been successfully deployed for continuous power supply. The accuracy of the lander system used has also not been announced successfully by JAXA.
Japan is one of the signatories of the Artemis Agreement which pledges to undertake space travel for peaceful purposes only. Emergency assistance will be provided to astronauts when needed. Also included are ethics when mining resources on the surface of the moon and Mars.