Tokyo [Japan], January 21: Japan successfully landed a high-tech probe on the moon as planned in the early hours of Saturday, but the spacecraft was experiencing power supply issues, Japanese space agency JAXA said.
High-tech lunar lander SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) "successfully landed on the moon surface" at 0:20am on Saturday (1520 GMT Friday), JAXA said in a statement.
Communication with the craft was established following the landing, the space agency continued.
"However, the solar cells are currently not generating power," the agency said, adding that receiving data from the probe was being prioritized.
JAXA staff said in a press conference that the probe's battery was expected to last for a few more hours and that the agency was expecting to learn more as more data is analysed.
It was initially not possible to establish whether the unmanned landing took place within 100 metres of the intended landing site as planned. No space probe has ever landed on the moon with such precision.
JAXA said that, to their knowledge, the solar panel was not damaged. It was initially unclear what the issue may have been or whether it could be fixed quickly.
Japan becomes the fifth country after the then-Soviet Union, the US, China and India to make a soft landing on Earth's satellite.
Source: Qatar Tribune