TOKYO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan's lunar probe succeeded in a pinpoint landing on the moon despite last-minute engine problems, the country's space agency said Thursday as it released the first images from the mission.
The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) made a soft landing 55 meters away from the target point, much more precise than the usual landing zone range that experts put at several kilometers, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
SLIM, dubbed the "moon sniper" for its precision technology, had the goal of touching down within 100 meters of a specific landing spot on a crater, according to the JAXA.
A photo taken by a baseball-sized wheeled rover, LEV-2, that SLIM deployed during touchdown, showed the boxy yellow lander sitting intact at a slight angle on the rocky grey surface, lunar slopes rising in the distance.
One of the lander's two main engines probably stopped in the final phase of touchdown, leaving it in an unintended position, Shinichiro Sakai, SLIM's project manager, said.
Angled westward because of the tumble, SLIM's solar panels have been unable to generate electricity, but a change in the direction of sunlight could power it up again, the JAXA added.
The space agency said it received all data about the landing of its SLIM within two hours and 37 minutes after the touchdown, before the JAXA decided to switch the lander off with 12 percent power remaining to allow for a possible resumption when the sun's angle changes.
The rocket carrying SLIM was launched on Sept. 7 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, in the country's third attempt at a lunar landing.
Saturday's soft lunar landing made Japan the fifth country to achieve the feat, after the United States, Russia, China and India. ■