Japan’s successful Moon landing was the most precise ever

So far only five countries have managed successful landings on the moon, i.e. U.S., former Soviet Union, China, India, and now Japan.

What is next? Moon tourism?

"... According to Kuninaka, SLIM has very likely achieved its primary goal — to land on the Moon with an unprecedented accuracy of 100 metres, which is a big leap from previous ranges of a few to dozens of kilometres. SLIM carried vision-based navigation technology, which was intended to image the surface as it flew over the Moon, and locate itself quickly by matching the images with onboard maps.

It remains unclear if the car-sized, 200-kilogram spacecraft actually touched down in the planned, two-step manner with its five legs. Unlike previous Moon landers, which used four legs to simultaneously reach a relatively flat area, SLIM was designed to hit a 15-degree slope outside Shioli crater first with one leg at the back, and then tip forward to stabilize on the four front legs. ...
Sakai and his team hoped that SLIM’s pinpoint landing technology would give Japan a head-start in the US-led Artemis Program, which aims to return humans to the Moon in three years’ time. ..."

Japan’s successful Moon landing was the most precise ever: Landing within 100 metres of its target zone, the craft has pioneered a new image-based automatic navigation. But its mission might be cut short.