JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has announced that it will postpone the launch of Japan's lunar probe "SLIM" scheduled for this year to next year.
It is said that it is to give priority to the launch of new rockets.
This is what JAXA presented at a subcommittee meeting of the National Space Policy Committee held on the 26th.
The lunar probe "SLIM" was originally planned to be launched by the "H2A rocket" last fiscal year, but it was postponed to this fiscal year due to delays in the development of another satellite scheduled to be mounted on the same rocket.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, etc., it was necessary to change the plan again from the viewpoint of the schedule of the launch site, such as giving priority to the launch of the new rocket "H3" under development, so it was postponed to next fiscal year.
The main purpose of the lunar probe "SLIM" is to demonstrate precision landing technology on the moon, and the data obtained will be used for the "Artemis Project", an international project by the United States aiming to land astronauts on the moon. It is supposed to be