"India looks forward to our cooperation in space exploration": PM Modi congratulates Japan on soft landing on Moon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pic/AFP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated Japan for achieving its first soft landing on the moon and said that India is looking forward to the cooperation between the space organisations of the two countries. Japan became only the fifth nation to successfully complete the soft landing on the moon in the late hours of Saturday.

Taking to social media platform X, PM Modi said, "Congratulations Prime Minister @Kishida230 and everyone at JAXA on achieving Japan's first soft Moon landing. India looks forward to our cooperation in space exploration between @isro and JAXA". PM Modi shared the post of his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida who had congratulated everyone involved in the mission for the successful landing of the 'Slim' on the moon.

"It is very welcome news that the small lunar landing demonstration vehicle "Slim" (@SLIM_JAXA) has successfully landed on the moon, although detailed analysis is required as the solar cells are not generating electricity. We would like to express our respect to everyone involved for their efforts thus far, and we will continue to support them as they take on further challenges," PM Kishida posted on X.

However, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spacecraft's solar cell is not generating electricity looming clouds of uncertainty over the success of mission. JAXA officials earlier said that the team is analysing the data to determine the cause of the solar cell issue and the next steps for the lander and the solar cell issue may be because the spacecraft is not pointing in the intended direction.

The agency believes the mission has met the criteria to declare it a "minimum success," because the spacecraft achieved a precise and soft lunar landing using optical navigation. The landing makes Japan the third country to land on the moon this century, and the fifth overall. The small-scale SLIM robotic explorer, which launched in September, goes by the nickname "Moon Sniper" because it carried new precision technology to demonstrate a "pinpoint" landing, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, in a major milestone earlier this month, India placed its first dedicated solar mission, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, in the Halo orbit. The successful launch of the maiden solar mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) came on the heels of the historic lunar landing mission -- Chandrayaan-3.

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