With its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission, Japan wants to become the fifth nation to pull off a fiendishly tricky soft landing on the rocky surface.

Only the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India have accomplished the feat, and Japan's lander -- equipped with a rolling robot developed by a major toy company -- is designed to do so with unprecedented precision.

The descent of the lightweight SLIM craft, nicknamed the "Moon Sniper" by space agency JAXA, is scheduled to start at midnight Japan time on Saturday (1500 GMT Friday).

If all goes to plan, the touchdown will be around 20 minutes later.

The craft is targeting an area within 100 metres (330 feet) of a spot on the lunar surface -- far less than the usual landing zone of several kilometres.

Success would reverse Japan's fortunes in space after two failed lunar missions and recent rocket failures, including explosions after take-off.

It would also echo the triumph of India's low-cost space programme in August, when the country became the first to land an uncrewed craft near the Moon's largely unexplored south pole.

SLIM is expected to land on a crater where the Moon's mantle -- the deep inner layer beneath its crust -- is believed to be accessible at the surface.

"The rocks exposed here are crucial in the search for the origins of the Moon and the Earth," Tomokatsu Morota, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo specialising in lunar and planetary exploration, told AFP.

JAXA has already made a pinpoint landing on an asteroid, but the challenge is greater on the Moon, where gravity is stronger.

With just one shot at landing, the pressure is on -- and the craft's precision is vital in the attempt to "land on an area surrounded by rocks", which it will examine with a camera, Morota said.

- Race to the Moon -

With its "sniper" technology, Japan hopes to "showcase its presence" in space and provide pivotal information on the Moon's history, according to Morota.

The mission also has ambitions to shed light on the mystery of water resources that will be key to building bases on the Moon one day.

The lunar surface is desert-like, but at the poles, where the terrain is rugged and sunlight is scarce, there are areas where water could exist.

"The possibility of lunar commercialisation depends on whether there is water at the poles," Morota said.

SLIM's rolling probe, slightly bigger than a tennis ball, can change its shape to move on the Moon's surface and was jointly developed by JAXA and Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy.

Adding to the playful mood, JAXA has released an online video game called "SLIM: The pinpoint moon landing game".

More than 50 years after the first human Moon landing, countries and private companies are racing to make the trip anew.

But crash-landings, communication failures and other technical problems are rife.

This month, a private US lunar lander had to turn back after leaking fuel, while NASA postponed plans for crewed lunar missions under its Artemis programme.

Russia, China and other countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck.

Previous Japanese lunar missions have failed twice -- one public and one private.

In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of America's Artemis 1 mission.

In April, Japanese startup ispace tried in vain to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a "hard landing".

Moon age daydream: modern lunar exploration
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 17, 2024 - Japan, whose unmanned "sniper" probe will attempt a lunar landing on Saturday, is one of many countries and private companies launching new missions to the Moon.

It is a feat so far only achieved by four nations -- the United States, the Soviet Union, China and most recently India -- with spacecraft often losing communication or crash-landing.

The modern lunar exploration programmes include plans to put people on the Moon for the first time since 1972 and eventually establish bases there.

Here is a rundown of the latest moonshots:

- United States -

The first country to land on the Moon wants to build a sustained presence there as a pitstop for missions to Mars.

But it has faced two setbacks this month, as NASA postponed plans for crewed lunar missions and a private lander had to turn back after leaking fuel.

Under NASA's Artemis programme, astronauts had been due to fly around the Moon this year but the mission has been pushed back to 2025 to allow for extra safety checks.

A third Artemis voyage -- to put the first woman and first person of colour on lunar soil -- is now scheduled for 2026 instead of 2025.

Even that may be optimistic, because the Artemis 3 lander, a modified version of SpaceX's next-gen Starship rocket, has exploded in two test flights.

NASA says commercial tie-ups give it "more shots on goal" although its Peregrine lunar lander, made by US company Astrobotic, failed when it lost fuel after take-off.

The next attempt, by Texas-based Intuitive Machines, launches in February.

- India -

"India is on the Moon!" the country's space agency chair announced to cheers at mission control in August after Chandrayaan-3 became the first craft to land near the Moon's south pole.

The unmanned mission orbited Earth several times to build up speed for its journey, resulting in a historic triumph for India's ambitious, cut-price space programme.

In 2014, India became the first Asian nation to orbit a probe around Mars, and Chandrayaan-3 followed a successful launch into lunar orbit in 2008 and a failed Moon landing in 2019.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a dozen missions planned for 2024, including preparation for a three-day trip into Earth's orbit -- its first crewed space flight.

- Russia -

The Luna-25 mission in August was meant to mark Russia's return to independent lunar exploration, nearly half a century after the Soviet Union last landed on the Moon.

But the lander crashed on the Moon's rocky surface, where it had been supposed to collect samples and analyse soil for one year.

The failure dealt a blow to Moscow's hopes of building on the legacy of the Soviet-era Luna missions, as financial troubles and corruption scandals plague its space programme.

President Vladimir Putin has also been working to strengthen space cooperation with China after ties with the West broke down following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

- China -

The world's second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its military-run space programme as China chases its "space dream" under President Xi Jinping.

A decade since the Chang'e-3 became the first Chinese spacecraft to land on the Moon, the country is now pursuing plans to send a crewed mission by 2030 and build a base there.

In 2019, the unmanned Chang'e-4 landed on the far side of the Moon, and a year later, Chang'e-5 brought the first lunar samples to Earth in more than 40 years.

In October, the country sent a fresh team to its Tiangong space station in the latest crewed mission for the fast-growing space programme.

- Japan -

Japanese company ispace attempted a soft lunar landing in April last year but crashed, becoming the third private entity to have failed in the endeavour.

Space agency JAXA has suffered a run of bad luck, losing communication with its Omotenashi lunar probe carried on Artemis 1 in 2022.

It has also seen failures after lift-off of the next-generation H3 launch rocket and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon rocket.

So hopes are high for a successful touchdown on Saturday of its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), nicknamed the "Moon Sniper" for its precision landing capabilities.

The pressure is on, however, as countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates ramp up efforts to be the next to make lunar history.

burs-kaf/stu/tym

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