The The Japanese mission Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) has already touched the moon and established communications with its operators on Earth, but its solar panels stopped generating energy, Japanese space agency JAXA reported on Saturday (Friday in Ecuador).

“SLIM landed on the moon at 00:20 local time on Saturday (15:20 GMT on Friday) and “contact was made” after landing, but the “cells [de sus paneles] They do not generate energy,” JAXA said in a statement.

— Presentation of the SLIM module of the Japanese mission to the moon “Moon Sniper”, launched in August 2023 (Photo by Gal ROMA and Paz PIZARRO / AFP) Photo: — GAL ROMA

“We see that on the screens [la sonda] SLIM landed on the moon. We are verifying it,” a JAXA official said in a live communication.

With this mission, Japan aims to be the fifth country to achieve a successful moon landing, after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.

The Japanese moon landing module, with a rolling probe developed by a toy manufacturer, was also designed to do this with unprecedented precision, earning it the nickname ‘Moon Sniper’ (‘moon sniper’ in Spanish).

If everything went as planned, will have landed within a radius of one hundred meters of the reference point on the satellite’s surface, a margin much smaller than that of the usual landing zones, of several kilometers.

A success would reverse the poor run of Japan’s aerospace sector, which has two moon missions and several failed rocket launches to its name. (JO)