Lunar Landings Test Spacecraft Operators’ Mettle

SLIM lander on Moon

Japan’s SLIM lander, tipped on its side, photographed by one of its accompanying miniature lunar surface robots.

Credit: JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corp./Doshisha University
Science fiction author Robert Heinlein’s novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is about the struggles of a lunar colony, but the title has become apropos for just trying to land there. The latest challenges undertaken by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic and by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)...

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