- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- The Melrose Group Demands Hank Payments Management Facilitate Requisitioned Shareholder Meetings
- MedMira receives Health Canada approval for its Multiplo(R) Rapid (TP/HIV) Test for Syphilis and HIV
- The Glimpse Group Regains Compliance with NASDAQ
- Sokoman Minerals Completes Phase 1 Diamond Drilling Program Fleur de Lys Gold Project, NW Newfoundland
- Canadian Government Provides C$100 Million Financing LOI to Green Technology Metals in Support of Electric Royalties' Flagship Lithium Royalty Asset in Ontario
- Sendero Resources Announces First Tranche Closing of Its Non-Brokered Private Placement
- EVSX Completes Installation of Multi Chemistry Line
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 24
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
RBGPF | -1.17% | 59.8 | $ | |
BCC | 0.91% | 123.36 | $ | |
BCE | 0.34% | 22.919 | $ | |
NGG | -0.32% | 58.83 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.68% | 23.74 | $ | |
GSK | -0.37% | 33.935 | $ | |
SCS | 0.55% | 11.715 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 59.165 | $ | |
RELX | 0.53% | 45.835 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.51% | 23.43 | $ | |
JRI | 0.74% | 12.19 | $ | |
AZN | -0.5% | 66.3 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 7.25 | $ | |
BTI | -0.01% | 36.215 | $ | |
VOD | 0.71% | 8.43 | $ | |
BP | 0.18% | 28.801 | $ |
Japan's 'Moon Sniper' attempts historic lunar landing
Japan's "Moon Sniper" spacecraft is preparing to make a historic lunar touchdown at midnight on Saturday using pinpoint technology the country hopes will lead to success where many have failed.
With its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission, Japan wants to become the fifth nation to pull off a fiendishly tricky soft landing on the Moon's rocky surface.
Only the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India have accomplished the feat so far.
But the Japanese lander -- equipped with a rolling probe developed by a major toy company -- has been designed to do so with unprecedented precision.
The descent of the lightweight SLIM craft, nicknamed the "Moon Sniper" by space agency JAXA, is scheduled to start at midnight Japan time on Saturday (1500 GMT Friday).
If all goes to plan, the touchdown will be around 20 minutes later.
The craft is targeting an area within 100 metres (330 feet) of a spot on the surface, far tighter than the usual landing zone of several kilometres.
Success would reverse Japan's fortunes in space after two failed lunar missions and recent rocket failures, including explosions after take-off.
It would also echo the triumph of India's low-cost space programme in August, when the country became the first to land an uncrewed craft near the Moon's largely unexplored south pole.
SLIM will try to land on a crater where the Moon's mantle -- the deep inner layer beneath its crust -- is believed to be accessible at the surface.
"The rocks exposed here are crucial in the search for the origins of the Moon and the Earth," Tomokatsu Morota, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo specialising in lunar and planetary exploration, told AFP.
JAXA has already made a pinpoint landing on an asteroid, but the challenge is greater on the Moon, where gravity is stronger.
With just one shot at landing, the pressure is on -- and the craft's precision is vital in the attempt to "land on an area surrounded by rocks", which it will examine with a camera, Morota said.
- Race to the Moon -
With its "sniper" technology, Japan hopes to "showcase its presence" in space and provide pivotal information on the Moon's history, according to Morota.
The mission also has ambitions to shed light on the mystery of water resources that will be key to building bases on the Moon one day.
The lunar surface is desert-like, but at the poles, where the terrain is rugged and sunlight is scarce, there are areas where water could exist.
"The possibility of lunar commercialisation depends on whether there is water at the poles," Morota said.
SLIM's spherical metal probe, slightly bigger than a tennis ball and carrying a camera, was jointly developed by JAXA and Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy.
Adding to the playful mood, the space agency has released an online video game called "SLIM: The pinpoint moon landing game".
More than 50 years after the first human Moon landing, countries and private companies are racing to make the trip anew.
But crash-landings, communication failures and other technical problems are rife.
This month, a private US lunar lander had to turn back after leaking fuel, while NASA postponed plans for crewed lunar missions under its Artemis programme.
Russia, China and other countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck.
Previous Japanese lunar missions have failed twice -- one public and one private.
In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States' Artemis 1 mission.
In April, Japanese startup ispace tried in vain to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a "hard landing".
F.Bennett--AMWN