• The mission follows a failed attempt by a private American company to reach the lunar surface.
• The other rover is a ball designed to change its shape when taking photos.
• Previous landings on asteroids provide valuable experience for the mission.

Japan’s Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) mission is set to attempt a soft touchdown on the Moon, aiming for a gentle slope near the equatorial crater Shioli.

The mission follows the recent failure of a private American company’s attempt to reach the lunar surface. Japan’s space agency, JAXA, hopes that Slim’s precision navigation technologies, nicknamed “Moon Sniper,” will improve the odds of a successful landing.

The lander’s onboard computer will use rapid image processing and crater mapping to target a touch-down point within 100m (330ft). Slim is expected to begin descent maneuvers at midnight into Saturday, Japan Standard Time. If successful, it will gently nestle in the lunar soil about 20 minutes later.

The mission aims to study the rocks around the crater using a scientific camera and deploy two small rovers to traverse the local terrain.

The other rover is a ball designed to change its shape when it stops to take photos. Tomy, the company behind its development, is known for creating Transformers toys.

Jaxa has previously landed on asteroids, providing valuable experience for Slim’s lunar landing attempt, although the larger lunar gravity poses additional challenges. In 2022, the private Japanese company Ispace attempted a lunar landing with its Hakuto-R craft, which ultimately crashed due to confusion in its onboard computer’s altitude readings.

Recently, the private American company Astrobotic disposed of its Peregrine landing craft in Earth’s atmosphere due to a propulsion fault, preventing any landing attempt.

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