This handout photo taken on Sept 7, 2023 and released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows a H-IIA rocket carrying a small lunar surface probe and other objects lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima island, Kagoshima prefecture. (HANDOUT / JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY VIA AFP)

TOKYO - Japan has successfully put into the moon's orbit a lunar lander launched by an H-2A rocket in September, the nation's space agency said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said an engine operation for putting the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) into an elliptical orbit at an altitude of 600 to 4,000 km to the moon was carried out at 4:51 pm local time on Monday as planned.

The space agency said that the spacecraft is currently in normal condition, adding that a landing on the lunar surface is scheduled on Jan 20 next year if the mission goes as planned

The space agency said that the spacecraft is currently in normal condition, adding that a landing on the lunar surface is scheduled on Jan 20 next year if the mission goes as planned.

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SLIM, a small probe about 2.4 meters high and weighing about 200 kg excluding fuel, is designed to test technology for conducting pinpoint landings on the surface of gravitational bodies with an unprecedented precision of less than 100 meters from intended targets, as opposed to conventional landers that often have an accuracy of within several kilometers, according to JAXA.

If SLIM successfully lands on the moon, the agency also hopes to help unravel the origins of the moon by carrying out a composition analysis of rocks believed to be part of its mantle, it said.

The rocket carrying SLIM was launched on Sept 7 from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, in the country's third attempt at a lunar landing.

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In November 2022, JAXA lost contact with the Omotenashi lander and scrubbed an attempted landing. In April this year, the Hakuto-R lander, built by Japanese startup ispace, successfully reached lunar orbit but crashed during its touchdown attempt.