Can Japan do what ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 did? All eyes on first moon landing of 2024
A successful soft landing of the Smart Lander on the lunar surface would put Japan in exclusive company, with just the US, USSR, China and India managing the feat already.
- Jan 19, 2024,
- Updated Jan 19, 2024 7:27 AM IST
Japan hopes to shake off a string of major setbacks to its space ambitions with an attempt to land a lander on the moon’s surface early Saturday morning.
A successful soft landing of the Smart Lander on the lunar surface would put Japan in exclusive company, with just the US, Russia, China and India managing the feat already.
Japan beat arch-rival China in launching its first satellite in 1970 but has since taken a back seat to a series of high-profile Chinese space successes. That includes the world’s first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in 2019, and landing on Mars in 2021.
India has eclipsed Japan, too, succeeding in a second attempt last August by landing near the lunar south pole. For Japan, landing on the moon has been even tougher to crack. Its space agency, JAXA, lost contact with a lunar lander in late 2022, while Tokyo-based Ispace Inc. also suffered a communication failure with a craft bound for the moon last April.
Other setbacks include the botched debut of JAXA’s H3 heavy-lift rocket, which failed after takeoff last March and hasn’t flown since. Meanwhile, JAXA’s smaller Epsilon rocket is grounded, too, following an explosion in October 2022.
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine
Japan hopes to shake off a string of major setbacks to its space ambitions with an attempt to land a lander on the moon’s surface early Saturday morning.
A successful soft landing of the Smart Lander on the lunar surface would put Japan in exclusive company, with just the US, Russia, China and India managing the feat already.
Japan beat arch-rival China in launching its first satellite in 1970 but has since taken a back seat to a series of high-profile Chinese space successes. That includes the world’s first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in 2019, and landing on Mars in 2021.
India has eclipsed Japan, too, succeeding in a second attempt last August by landing near the lunar south pole. For Japan, landing on the moon has been even tougher to crack. Its space agency, JAXA, lost contact with a lunar lander in late 2022, while Tokyo-based Ispace Inc. also suffered a communication failure with a craft bound for the moon last April.
Other setbacks include the botched debut of JAXA’s H3 heavy-lift rocket, which failed after takeoff last March and hasn’t flown since. Meanwhile, JAXA’s smaller Epsilon rocket is grounded, too, following an explosion in October 2022.
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine