Japan’s space agency confirms breakthrough high-precision moon landing

Japan’s lunar lander touched down 55 meters east of its target on the moon’s surface on Saturday, despite losing one of its main engines during its final descent, the nation’s space agency said Thursday.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had aimed to land within 100 meters of a target site, much more precise than the several to tens-of-kilometers range seen in conventional lunar missions.

“We have confirmed that SLIM succeeded in making a soft landing within the accuracy of 100 meters at 12:20 a.m. (Saturday),” Hitoshi Kuninaka, director-general of JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, told a news conference.