JAXA's small lunar probe SLIM will attempt to land on the moon on January 20

Japan's JAXA small lunar probe SLIM will attempt to land on the moon on January 20. Japan’s SLIM is currently flying in lunar orbit and plans to attempt to land near the crater of the Mare of Wine on the south side of the moon’s equator on January 20. If successful, Japan will become the fifth country to land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India.

JAXA stated that SLIM strives to achieve a precise landing within 100 meters of the target location, aiming to test this world-first technology, and they must succeed.

Regarding the details of the moon landing on the 20th, JAXA stated that the final stage of descent will begin from an altitude of 15 kilometers, and it will land on the lunar surface in about 20 minutes.

In the final stage, the descent speed is about 6,400 kilometers per hour, and it will decelerate and land within a circle with a radius of about 100 meters at a distance of about 800 kilometers.