Video Message by Prime Minister Kishida regarding the Successful Landing of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on the Moon

[Provisional translation]

 

Japan has made its first lunar landing with the touchdown of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). I believe that today’s success was made possible thanks to the hard work of all those involved over the years. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations.
 
This success is an important step forward that Japan has made through the accumulation of technology for space exploration dating back to the 1950s. I am very proud of this.
 
In particular, I understand that leveraging its small size and light weight, which demonstrate the strength of Japan’s technology, SLIM took on the challenge of a pinpoint landing with an unprecedented accuracy of less than 100 meters in an attempt to land on a targeted spot. I would like to express my respect to all the engineers and researchers who have bravely taken on the challenge of developing this highly difficult technology.
 
I have high hopes that the technologies acquired through the launch of SLIM that will be essential for future space exploration will be utilized and contribute to the expansion of human activities, such as sustainable exploration of the moon and future exploration of gravitational objects.
 
The Government will also seek to build on this success to lead to further development in the field of space. Going forward, we will aim for the lunar landing by Japanese astronauts in the Artemis program while making every effort to promote space exploitation and utilization.