Japan’s Sniper Moon (SLIM) probe lands on the Moon
On January 19, 2024, Japan’s national robotic spacecraft SLIM landed on the lunar surface, marking a huge success for Japan, making it only the fifth country to soft-land on Earth’s moon. The pioneers were the Soviet Union and the United States, which made their first flights to the lunar surface during the Cold War space race; then China, which successfully landed a probe in December 2013; India – Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover landed in August 2023. SLIM was expected to land within 330 feet (100 meters) of a target point on the rim of Scioli Crater, which explains the probe’s nickname “Moon Sniper.”
The NASA/JAXA XRISM mission investigates the composition and physical state of space objects by detecting X-ray radiation
Invisible to our eyes, X-rays emitted by the hot gas that fills much of the Universe can shed light on many cosmic mysteries. The first observations of this gas by JAXA’s X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) are ready and demonstrate that the mission will play a major role in revealing the evolution of the Universe and the structure of spacetime.