Japan Launches Moon Lander & XRISM Satellite | Tanegashima Space Center

Japan Launches Moon Lander & XRISM Satellite | Tanegashima Space Center

Japan launched a rocket on September 7, 2023, carrying a lunar lander and X-ray telescope to explore the origins of the universe. The HII-A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan carrying the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite. This is a joint mission between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA to study the universe. The  XRISM satellite aims to pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow using an instrument called Resolve. The mission’s other instrument, developed by JAXA, is called Xtend. It will give XRISM one of the largest fields of view of any X-ray imaging satellite flown to date. 

Once XRISM reaches its operating orbit 550 km above Earth’s surface, scientists and engineers will begin a ten-month phase of testing and calibrating the spacecraft’s scientific instruments and verifying the science performance of the mission. XRISM will then spend at least three years observing the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos based on proposals elaborated by scientists all over the world.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission designed to demonstrate accurate lunar landing techniques. SLIM will not take a direct route to the moon. After a lunar transfer orbit burn, it will make a lunar flyby, heading into a wide loop away from the Earth-moon system before returning to enter lunar orbit in around four months’ time. This will save on propellant.

The landed weight will be about 210 kg. The landing objective is to be within 100 meters of the target point, the ejecta blanket of Shioli crater (a crater centered at approximately 13.322 S, 25.232 E). Shioli is a small lunar impact crater that is located within the much larger Cyrillus crater on the near side of the Moon. It is a young crater with a prominent ray system.

SLIM launched on September 7, 2023, as a "ride-share" payload with the XRISM mission. 

Video Credit: South China Morning Post (SCMP)

Duration: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 7, 2023

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