Private Lunar Lander Burns In Atmosphere

While the Peregrine lunar lander mission faced a premature end, a Japanese robotic spacecraft accomplished a successful lunar landing on January 20. However, its operational duration is constrained to a few hours due to inactive solar panels. The feat makes Japan the fifth nation to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.

For JAXA, Japan’s space agency, the mission marked its first attempt at landing on a planetary body beyond Earth. The spacecraft, named the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), aimed to showcase precision landing capabilities with an unprecedented accuracy of a football field’s distance from the targeted destination.

Source: NBC News