By 
December 24th, 2023
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is approaching lunar orbit.
SLIM was launched September 7, departing Earth atop an H-IIA launch vehicle from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center.
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
The SLIM project aims to demonstrate pinpoint landing and obstacle detection techniques for touching down on the Moon.
SLIM researchers are eager to convert conventional exploration of “descending where it is easy to land’” to “descending where you want to land.”
Unique lunar rover
SLIM is to deploy a palm-sized Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) jointly developed with toy manufacturer, Takara Tomy, along with the Sony Group Corporation and Doshisha University.
Image credit: JAXA/TOMY Company/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University
The ball-shaped vehicle — SORA-Q — is equipped with two cameras and can transform its shape to traverse the lunar surface.
The wheels that move freely left and right can run in two types of running modes, “butterfly running” and “crawling running” because the rotating shaft is eccentric, according to the Takara Tomy company.
For more information, go to:
https://www.leonarddavid.com/japans-slim-landing-on-the-moon-smartly/
https://www.leonarddavid.com/landing-slim-and-smartly-on-the-moon/
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
Posted in Space News
