2023-09-07 12:06:56
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) today successfully launched a rocket with two objectives: to send a lander and put into orbit a new X-ray astronomical satellite.
He H2A rocket Number 47 took off at 8:42 local time (01:42 Spanish peninsular time) from the Tanegashima Space Center (located southwest of the archipelago) and “flew as planned,” according to the Japanese space agency, which considered the launch successful. after the module was successfully detached from the device after 47 minutes.
The launch was scheduled for late August, but was postponed due to bad weather. Today’s is the first of this magnitude after the failed inaugural takeoff of the new generation Japanese rocket H3 last March which, together with the recent failed missions to land modules on the moon, dealt a serious blow to the Japanese space industry.
Illustrations of the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar module and the XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) satellite. /JAXA
Attempting the first Japanese moon landing
Now, with the so-called SLIM module (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) launched today, Japan will again attempt to make its first successful moon landing.
It is expected that this ship will enter the orbit of the Moon in about three or four months and that its landing attempt will occur in about four or six months.
With its SLIM module, Japan will try to be the fifth country to land on the moon after Russia, the United States, China and India
The module will try to touch the lunar surface near the Shioli crater, close to the lunar equator, in an attempt to carry out “the more precise landing” to date, according to JAXA.
The device will take images that will be used in the Artemis lunar exploration project led by NASA, which aims to facilitate the return of humans to the Moon and, ultimately, the exploration of Mars.
If achieved, Japan would be the fifth country to land a module on the Moon, after Russia, the United States, China and India.
Observe the universe in X-rays
For her part, the XRISM mission (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission), also launched this Thursday, “is a new X-ray astronomical satellite that will observe the plasma in stars and galaxieswith a new generation of X-ray imaging spectroscopy technologies to solve mysteries regarding the formation of the universe,” according to JAXA.
XRISM X-ray astronomical satellite will observe plasma in stars and galaxies to solve mysteries related to the formation of the universe
The mission, led by Japan, is a joint project with the American NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
XRISM is an X-ray observation device intended to investigate the winds of hot plasma gases blowing through galaxies to unravel the evolution of the universe. He specializes in high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the movement of these gases to determine mass and energy flows that help understand the composition and evolution of celestial objects.
X-rays are released in the most energetic explosions and hottest places in the universe, including the masses of gas surrounding galaxy clusters. The gas remaining in them is a vestige of the birth and death of the starsso the study of the emitted X-rays would allow us to discover what elements it contains and draw a map of how the universe was enriched by them.
The mission also aims to measure the X-radiation emitted by immensely dense objects, such as black holes of large size that are found in the center of some galaxies, in order to help understand how warps space-time around them and to what extent this influences their galaxies.
Fuente: SINC/EFE
Rights: Creative Commons.
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