'Moon Sniper': Japan launches its lunar exploration mission carrying SLIM, XRISM

Japan has launched its lunar exploration spacecraft aboard a homegrown H2A rocket, clearing the path to become the world’s fifth country to land on the moon early next year. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon i.e SLIM. Unfavourable weather had led to three postponements in a week last month for this lunar mission. The rocket carried a revolutionary satellite that will reveal celestial objects in a new light and the “Moon Sniper” lunar lander.