Japan's first moon lander is aiming for a very small target
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January 19, 2024
TOKYO (AP) — As Japan's space agency prepares for its first moon landing early Saturday, it's aiming to hit a very small target.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle, is using "pinpoint landing" technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.
While most previous probes have used landing zones some 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide, SLIM is aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).
It's the fruit of two decades of work on precision technology by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. If...
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