Japan’s Moon Lander Hits Its Target

2024-02-01 17:21:00来源：网络

日本的月球着陆器成功击中目标

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　　By Hai Do

　　25 January 2024

　　Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Thursday that its first lunar mission landed within 100 meters of its target over the weekend.

　　Japan became the fifth country to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the moon early on Saturday. But trouble with the spacecraft's power system made it difficult to know whether it landed in the target area at first.

　　Earlier moon landers targeted landing areas as large as 10 kilometers. However, with its improved accuracy, Japan's SLIM aimed at a target area of just 100 meters.

　　Shinichiro Sakai is JAXA's project leader for the lander. He said, "We proved that we can land wherever we want." Sakai hoped that it would bring more missions "to try to land on unexplored places on the moon."

　　One of the lander's two main engines stopped working during the landing, causing SLIM to move 55 meters away from the target area to another position, Sakai said. Without engine trouble, he said SLIM could have landed as close as three to four meters from the target. However, the spacecraft could not produce power after landing. JAXA scientists said its solar panels might be facing the wrong direction.

　　JAXA said it received all data about the touchdown within the two hours and 37 minutes before the lander lost power. Officials said there is still hope the craft will be able to recharge when that side of the moon enters daytime in the coming days.

　　The power outage meant the lander's camera could only capture low-resolution images, JAXA said.

　　Moon sniper

　　The goal of landing within a target area of less than 100 meters led scientists to call SLIM the "moon sniper."

　　It used "vision-based" guidance that JAXA says could be a powerful tool for future exploration of the moon's mountainous areas. These areas might hold resources of fuel, water and oxygen.

　　Japan follows the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India as nations reaching the moon's surface. The mission was the result of 20 years of work on precision technology by JAXA.

　　JAXA has experience with difficult space landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long asteroid Ryugu. Hayabusa2 collected material that was returned to Earth for scientific research in 2020.

　　In the past year, three lunar missions have failed. One by Russia's space agency; one by a private Japanese company and another by a private U.S. company. However, more lunar landers will head to the moon this year.

　　U.S. company Intuitive Machines aims to launch its IM-1 lander in mid-February. China plans to send its Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the far side of the moon in the first half of the year. And the American space agency NASA is planning its lunar polar exploration rover VIPER for November.

　　I'm Gena Bennett.

　　Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters sources.

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　　作者：Hai Do

　　2024年1月25日

　　日本宇宙航空研究开发机构，或称JAXA，周四表示，其首次月球任务在周末成功在目标区域内100米的范围内着陆。

　　当“智能月球探测着陆器”（SLIM）于周六早些时候在月球上着陆时，日本成为第五个抵达月球的国家。但是，飞船电力系统的问题使得一开始难以确定它是否着陆在目标区域。

　　早期的月球着陆器的目标着陆区域大约有10公里。然而，凭借其提高的精度，日本的SLIM的目标区域只有100米。

　　Shinichiro Sakai是JAXA的着陆器项目负责人。他说：“我们证明了我们可以着陆在我们想去的任何地方。” Sakai希望这将带来更多的任务，“尝试着陆在月球上未探索的地方。”

　　Sakai说，着陆器的两个主要引擎之一在着陆过程中停止工作，导致SLIM从目标区域移动了55米到另一个位置。他说，如果没有引擎故障，SLIM可能会在离目标只有三到四米的地方着陆。然而，飞船在着陆后无法产生电力。JAXA的科学家说，它的太阳能板可能朝向错误的方向。

　　JAXA表示，在着陆器失去电力前的两小时37分钟内，它接收到了所有关于着陆的数据。官员们说，仍然有希望在未来几天月球的那一侧进入白天时，飞船将能够重新充电。

　　JAXA说，电力中断意味着着陆器的相机只能捕捉到低分辨率的图像。