Japan landed its Lunar Exploration Intelligent Lander, or SLIM, on the lunar surface on January 20, 2024. Despite a power issue with the lander, the event holds political and technical significance. This is Japan's first landing on the moon, making it the fifth country in the world to successfully land on the moon. This is a major achievement and strengthens Japan's position as a leader in space technology.
While the rover successfully landed on the moon's surface and deployed its rovers, SLIM's solar cells were not working properly, meaning the rover would likely only operate for a few hours.
I am an international affairs researcher who studies space. Like NASA and other space agencies, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, wants to advance research and technology by demonstrating new technologies and collecting scientific data. The landing is also part of something bigger: a growing global interest in lunar activity.
Precision technology
Japan's achievement is not only symbolic, but Japan is demonstrating a number of new technologies with the lander. The name, Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, refers to the spacecraft's new precision landing technology.
This technology could aid future landings by allowing spacecraft to land in relatively small areas amid rocky or uneven terrain, rather than having to find large empty spaces. This capability will be particularly important in the future as countries focus on very specific areas of interest in the lunar south pole.
The lander also carried two small rovers, each of which will demonstrate new technology for moving on the Moon.
The Lunar Expedition 1 vehicle includes a camera, as well as scientific equipment, and uses a jump mechanism to maneuver on the Moon.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency/ISAS
Developed in partnership between government, industry and academia, Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 is a sphere small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Once it reaches the surface, its two halves separate slightly, allowing it to roll.
SLIM is designed to land within a 328-foot (100-meter) area, much smaller than previous lunar landers that had landing zones extending several kilometers.
SLIM used a vision-based navigation system that took images of the lunar surface. Her system quickly compared these images with crater patterns on lunar maps developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency using data from previous missions.
As countries identify areas most likely to contain useful resources, such as water in the form of ice, precision landing technology will allow agencies to avoid nearby hazards and reach these areas without incident.
International relations returns to the ground
There is a geopolitical element to these activities. China, India and Japan – the three countries that have successfully landed on the moon since 2000 – are engaged in a regional competition across a number of areas, including space. In addition to regional considerations, these achievements help establish countries as global leaders – capable of doing something that few countries have ever done.
Japan's launch comes just six months after India landed on the moon and just weeks after a failed attempt by an American company called Astrobotics.
Both Russia and private company iSpace have made failed landing attempts in 2023. Japan's success in landing on the moon — even as problems with solar panels shortened the mission's timeline — shows that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is a major player in this global endeavor.
Despite recent setbacks, such as NASA's announcement that the next Artemis mission will be postponed, the United States remains a clear leader in space and lunar exploration. NASA has several spacecraft orbiting the Moon at the moment, and has already successfully launched the SLS rocket, capable of returning humans to the Moon.
NASA is developing large, complex systems internally, such as the Gateway space station, planned to orbit near the Moon, and infrastructure for human Artemis lunar missions. It is not uncommon for such large and complex efforts to encounter some delays.
NASA has also converted several small efforts into commercial entities recently, such as in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program that supported the Astrobotic attempt. This is a new approach that carries some risks, but it provides the opportunity for commercial innovation and growth of the lunar economy while giving NASA the ability to focus on the large and complex aspects of the mission.
Regarding the Moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency partnered with the United States and undertook a very important component of the Artemis missions – the development of a pressurized lunar vehicle. This is a new and complex technology that will be crucial for human missions to the Moon in the coming years.
