The moon makes for a handy guide to locate Uranus in the night sky tonight (Jan. 19). The elusive Uranus, the second-most distant planet in our solar system, will be just a few degrees away from the moon, making tonight an excellent time to get a glimpse of the ice […]
The moon
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Japan’s unmanned lunar lander has landed on the surface of the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday, but an issue with its power supply has put the mission in jeopardy. The unmanned module known as the “Moon Sniper” reached the moon’s surface at approximately 10:20 a.m. ET Friday (or […]
Illustration of the SLIM spacecraft JAXA Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has touched down on the lunar surface. The spacecraft is not operating perfectly, but the successful landing follows a series of recent lunar landing failures by governments and commercial spaceflight firms, so it is still encouraging for […]
Japan staked a claim among national space powers on Friday, as its SLIM spacecraft reached the lunar surface. The country’s SLIM lander launched in September and touched down on the lunar surface around 10:20 a.m. ET, according to telemetry readings by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. Engineers were […]
Japan’s Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) mission is now only hours away from attempting its perilous landing on the lunar surface. If successful, Japan will become only the fifth country to land on the moon. But after America’s first landing attempt in 50 years failed before even reaching the Moon, the […]
TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to make the world’s first “pinpoint landing” on the moon early Saturday, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Japan’s attempt to bring down its lander at a precise […]
Robin McKie is the science editor of the Observer. Over the last 42 years, he’s covered everything from advances in genetics and new discoveries in physics to the urgent scientific issues raised by the Covid pandemic. But one topic excites him more than any other: space – and, more specifically, […]
An artist’s impression of SLIM after landing on the moon JAXA Japan is getting ready for its first moon landing. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface on 19 January. If all goes well, this will make Japan the fifth country […]