Japan Ends Lunar Probe Mission “Slim” Year after Its Launch

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced the end of operations of its lunar probe, a year after its launch.The smart lander for lunar exploration "Slim" landed on the surface of the moon last January, making Japan the fifth country to achieve a successful landing there.The Japanese space agency had previously posted on the social media platform "X" that it had not received any response from the spacecraft after unsuccessfully trying to communicate with it last week.The mission assigned to the "Slim" spacecraft was to conduct analyses of rocks that are supposed to come from the internal structure of the moon, i.e. the lunar mantle, an area that is still not well understood.The Japanese mission also aims to enhance research related to water resources on the moon, a very important issue, as the United States and China eventually intend to establish manned bases there.Japans first two attempts to land on the moon failed. In 2022, Japans Omotenashi probe, which was sent as part of the US Artemis 1 mission, suffered a major battery failure shortly after it was launched into space.Last year, a lander from the Japanese private startup iSpace crashed on the moon after failing the crucial step of landing softly on the surface.Source: Qatar News Agency