The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), recently announced in a press conference in the early morning of the 20th that its unmanned space probe, SLIM (short for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) had successfully landed on the moon at 12:30 AM on the same day. This makes Japan the fifth country in the world to do so, after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India.
Communication between SLIM and the Earth was established after its landing. However. JAXA also said that the solar cells onboard SLIM were not generating power and would run out of battery if this situation continued. Priority is currently being given to obtaining data from SLIM and confirmation work is underway.
SLIM was launched by an H2A rocket last September and entered lunar orbit on December 25th of last year.
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun
