JAXA to Launch Small Landing Probe to Moon in FY 2021

August 3, 2018

Tokyo- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to launch a small lunar landing probe on an H-2A rocket in fiscal 2021.

The decision was reported during a meeting of the science ministry's task force on space development and utilization on Thursday.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, will be launched together with a successor model of the X-ray astronomy satellite Hitomi and will target a landing on a small crater in Mare Nectaris, an area located near the moon's equator on the side facing Earth.

According to Shinichiro Sakai, an associate professor at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, it is highly possible for olivine from the moon's mantle to be exposed on the crater's surface.

While the theory that the moon was formed by a large object smashing into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago is widely accepted, Sakai said that the scenario can be tested by an analysis of components in detail of olivine from the moon and a comparison of the elements with materials from Earth's mantle.

JAXA initially planned to launch SLIM on an Epsilon rocket.

Thanks to the change from the Epsilon rocket to the large-sized H-2A rocket, the agency will now be able to increase the weight of the lunar lander from some 130 kilograms to around 200 kilograms, excluding the weight of fuel.

The agency will beef up the engines on the probe and is discussing plans to mount the device with a miniature exploration robot that will move by itself and take photos of its surroundings.

JAXA will adopt a two-step landing method using the probe's five legs to enable the lander to touch down safely on steep slopes.

The agency had booked some 18 billion yen for total development costs because if the probe were mounted on the Epsilon rocket, it would need to add a top part to the rocket. After the change, however, JAXA expects that such costs will be reduced to 14.8 billion yen.

It had hoped to launch the 26.7-billion-yen X-Ray Imagining and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, Hitomi's successor, in fiscal 2020.

The delivery of devices developed by NASA, however, was delayed and JAXA has pushed back the launch of the satellite to fiscal 2021. Jiji Press