Japan counts down to ‘Moon Sniper’ landing on lunar surface
Al JazeeraJan 19
Japan's uncrewed lunar lander completed a successful touchdown on the moon's surface at 10:20 a.m. ET Friday (12:20 a.m. Saturday local time), making the country only the fifth to soft-land on Earth's natural satellite, after the US, the Soviet Union, China, and India.
Though JAXA, Japan's space agency, believes the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) achieved its goal of a high-precision landing, the spacecraft's solar panels weren't generating power, which could cut its mission short.
It's a historic day as Japan has successfully tested an unprecedented experimental technology essential to shedding light on the mystery of the moon's possible water resources. The touchdown on the moon not only gives a much-needed boost to Japan's space program but also allows Tokyo to properly assert its position in lunar development.
As more and more nations are aiming for the moon and beyond, there's no doubt that the great space race has begun. While competition can breed success, it can also morph into conflict, particularly between rivals, such as the US and China. It seems that the great power competition risks dangerously transcending to space. Let's encourage progress, but ensure countries are in it for the right reasons.
There's a 50% chance that the next human being will walk on the moon by December 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.