Japan Becomes 5th Country to Land Spacecraft on Moon

Journalists watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft at JAXA's Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Journalists watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft at JAXA's Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
TT
20

Japan Becomes 5th Country to Land Spacecraft on Moon

Journalists watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft at JAXA's Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Journalists watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft at JAXA's Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when one of its spacecrafts without astronauts successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.
However, space officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, achieved its mission priority of making a pinpoint landing. They also said the craft's solar panel had failed to generate power, which could shorten its activity on the moon.
Space officials believe that the SLIM's small rovers were launched as planned and that data was being transmitted back to Earth, said Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, a unit of Japan's space agency.
But he said that SLIM's solar battery wasn't generating power and that it had only a few more hours of battery life, The Associated Press reported. He said the priority was for the craft to gather as much data about its landing and the moon as possible on the remaining battery.
Japan follows the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India in reaching the moon.
Kuninaka said he believes that Japan's space program at least achieved “minimum” success.
SLIM landed on the moon at about 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time Saturday (1520 GMT Friday).
There was a tense wait for news after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's mission control initially said that SLIM was on the lunar surface, but that it was still “checking its status.” No further details were given until a news conference nearly two hours later.
For the mission to be considered fully successful, space officials needed to confirm whether SLIM made a pinpoint landing. Kuninaka said that while more time was needed, he personally thought it was most likely achieved, based on his observation of data showing the spacecraft's movement until the landing and its ability to transmit signals after landing. He said the solar panel is possibly not in the planned angle, but there is still hope.
Despite the solar panel issue, “it's delightful news,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, pledging the government's continuing backing for the endeavors toward new challenges.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also lauded SLIM's landing with an X message, congratulating Japan “on being the historic 5th country to land successfully on the Moon! We value our partnership in the cosmos and continued collaboration" in the US-led multinational Artemis Moon exploration.
SLIM, which was aiming to hit a very small target, is a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle. It was using “pinpoint landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.
While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).
A landing of such precision would be a world's first, and would be crucial technology for a sustainable, long-term and accurate space probe system, said Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.



Delhi Bans Old Cars from Refueling to Help Tackle Pollution

Traffic passes by flowers in bloom at a roundabout in New Delhi, India, 25 February 2025. EPA/HARISH TYAGI
Traffic passes by flowers in bloom at a roundabout in New Delhi, India, 25 February 2025. EPA/HARISH TYAGI
TT
20

Delhi Bans Old Cars from Refueling to Help Tackle Pollution

Traffic passes by flowers in bloom at a roundabout in New Delhi, India, 25 February 2025. EPA/HARISH TYAGI
Traffic passes by flowers in bloom at a roundabout in New Delhi, India, 25 February 2025. EPA/HARISH TYAGI

Cars more than 15 years old will soon be barred from refueling in New Delhi, the city's government said Saturday, as part of measures to reduce the Indian capital's hazardous pollution levels.

New Delhi is regularly ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world and is blanketed in acrid smog each year.

The pollution is primarily blamed on agricultural burning by nearby farmers to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as factories and traffic fumes, AFP reported.

Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter.

Diesel and petrol cars older than 10 and 15 years respectively are not allowed to ply on Delhi roads but many have been found flouting the rules.

Delhi's environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters Saturday that the decision to stop fuel for the old cars was made at a "marathon meeting" on air pollution to "find out the diseases and its remedies".

"We have decided to stop giving fuel to vehicles more than 15 years old after March 31, 2025," he said.

He said "gadgets" would be installed at petrol pumps to identify such vehicles.

Sirsa said other decisions taken include turning barren land into "new forests" and getting university students involved in planting.

He also said the government would make it mandatory for high rises, hotels and Delhi airport to install anti-smog guns and gadgets to control pollution.

The public health crisis has grown steadily worse over the years and weeks-long school closures across the capital, aimed at shielding vulnerable children from the harmful air, are now an annual occurrence.

At the peak of the smog, levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- surged to more than 60 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.

Piecemeal government initiatives, such as partial restrictions on fossil fuel-powered transport and water trucks spraying mist to clear particulate matter from the air, have failed to make a noticeable impact.