The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday congratulated Japan's space agency JAXA on the successful launch of the SLIM lander to the moon.
"Best wishes for another successful lunar endeavour by the global space community," ISRO said in a post on X.
If everything goes well, Japan will become the world's fifth country to land on the moon early next year.
The launch of Japan's “Moon Sniper” mission comes days after India scripted history by soft-landing the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface.
India became the fourth country to touch the lunar surface and the first to ever reach the south pole of the moon.
Congratulations @JAXA_en on the successful launch of the SLIM lander to the moon.
September 7, 2023
Best wishes for another successful lunar endeavour by the global space community. https://t.co/7HSjtoFHx7The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), were launched onboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 47 (H-IIA F47) at 8:42:11 am on September 7, 2023 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a statement.
The launch vehicle flew as planned, and it was confirmed that XRISM was successfully separated from the launch vehicle at about 14 minutes and 9 seconds after launch and SLIM at about 47 minutes and 33 seconds after launch, JAXA said.
"We would like to express our profound appreciation for the cooperation of all parties involved in the launch of XRISM and SLIM," it added.
Unfavourable weather led to three postponements in a week last month, Reuters reported.
About SLIM
According to the information on JAXA's website, the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon) project is a mission for researching the pinpoint landing technology necessary for future lunar probes and verifying this on the surface of the moon with a small-scale probe.
SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) aims to demonstrate “landing where it is desire to land”, pin-point landing technique and obstacle detection technique.
"By creating the SLIM lander humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land, as had been the case before. By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the moon," JAXA said.
About XRISM
The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM is a satellite that will help scientists observe plasma in stars and galaxies.
According to NASA, XRISM detects X-rays with energies ranging from 400 to 12,000 electron volts. (For comparison, the energy of visible light is 2 to 3 electron volts.) This range will provide astrophysicists with new information about some of the universe's hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity.
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