Japan’s space agency said Thursday that its first lunar mission hit the tiny patch of the moon's surface it was aiming for, in a successful demonstration of its pinpoint landing system — although the probe appears to be lying upside-down.

Shinichiro Sakai, the Project Manager for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) speaks as he hold a scale model of SLIM during a press conference on updates on the status of its spacecraft, including whether it successfully made a "pinpoint landing" on the Moon Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Tokyo. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials announced Thursday that the spacecraft which landed Saturday, landed only about 55 meters (60 yards) away from its target set in between two craters near the Shioli crater, a region covered in volcanic rock.

Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the Moon early on Saturday. But trouble with the probe's solar batteries made it hard at first to figure whether the probe landed in the target zone.

While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet). Improved accuracy would give scientists access to more of the moon, since probes could be placed nearer to obstacles.

One of the lander's main engines lost thrust about 50 meters (54 yards) above the moon surface, causing a harder landing than planned.

A pair of autonomous probes released by SLIM before touchtown sent back images of the box-shaped vehicle on the surface, although it appeared to be upside down.

After a few days of data analysis, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA determined that the spacecraft landed about 55 meters (60 yards) away from its target, in between two craters near the Shioli crater, a region covered in volcanic rock.

But after the landing mishap, the craft's solar panels wound up facing the wrong direction, and it cannot generate power. Officials said there is still hope the probe will be able to recharge when the Moon enters its daytime in the coming days.

JAXA project manager Shinichiro Sakai said the images sent back were just like those he'd imagined and seen in computer renderings.

“Something we designed traveled all the way to the moon and took that snapshot. I almost fell down when I saw it,” he said. For the pinpoint landing, Sakai said, he would give SLIM a “perfect score.”

“We demonstrated that we can land where we want,” Sakai said. “We opened a door to a new era.”

LEV-1, a hopping robot equipped with an antenna and a camera, was tasked with recording SLIM’s landing and transmitting images back to earth. LEV-2 is a baseball-sized rover equipped with two cameras, developed by JAXA together with Sony, toymaker Tomy Co. and Doshisha University.

The two autonomous probes frame and select images independently, both using LEV-1's antenna to send them back to base.

Daichi Hirano, a JAXA scientist who designed LEV-2, also known as Sora-Q, said it selected images containing SLIM and nearby lunar surface and transmitted the images through LEV-1, making the pair the world's first to achieve the mission. Despite the rush, the probes captured and transmitted 275 images.

Japan followed the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India to reach the moon surface.

The project was the fruit of two decades of work on precision technology by JAXA.

JAXA has a track record with difficult landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long (3,000-foot-long) asteroid Ryugu, collecting samples that were returned to Earth.

SLIM, nicknamed “the Moon Sniper,” was intended to seek clues about the origin of the moon, including analyzing minerals with a special camera.

SLIM was launched on a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket in September. It initially orbited Earth and entered lunar orbit on Dec. 25.

Japan hopes to regain confidence for its space technology after a number of failures. A spacecraft designed by a Japanese company crashed during a lunar landing attempt in April, and a new flagship rocket failed its debut launch in March.

Image reveals Japan’s historic SLIM spacecraft landed upside down on the moon.

An image of Japan’s historic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft, which successfully reached the moon last week, revealed that it landed on its head.

About the image: The photo released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows SLIM upside down on the lunar surface, as captured by the robot LEV-2 (Lunar Exploration Vehicle-2), also known as SORA-Q, one of two tiny rovers carried by SLIM. Despite landing on its nose, the photograph confirms that SLIM successfully made it to the moon’s surface.

“I am very happy that the LEV-2 SORA-Q was able to make a major contribution to the mission of pinpoint landing of the small lunar landing demonstrator SLIM. With this, SORA-Q became the first Japanese robot to land on the moon and take pictures. This success is thanks to everyone involved and everyone who supported us as we pursued our dreams together,” Kintaro Toyama, chairman and representative director of Takara Tomy Company, said in a statement.

The touchdown: During its touchdown, SLIM handlers could not immediately confirm its status and later discovered that its solar panels were not generating electricity. The recent photo confirms that SLIM is unable to harvest sunlight as intended due to the way it landed.

A possible recovery: However, the successful deployment and operation of the daughter craft, LEV-2 and LEV-1, on the moon indicate a partial mission success. The team is currently working towards a possible recovery at least until Feb. 1.

About SLIM: SLIM, which was launched last September, reached the lunar orbit on Christmas Day before descending on the lunar surface on Jan. 19. This mission made Japan only the fifth nation ever to land a spacecraft on the moon.

The project is aimed at researching pinpoint landing technology for future lunar probes and testing it on the moon’s surface with a small-scale probe. It aims to enable precise landings on resource-scarce planets, allowing for targeted exploration in solar system research probes.

“This year marks the 10th year since the Space Exploration Innovation Hub collaborated with companies from all over Japan and began research and development aimed at the moon. Many new lunar surface exploration technologies unique to Japan are being developed, and it is the beginning of a new lunar era, with expectations for Japan's success following LEV-2,” said JAXA Space Exploration Innovation Hub Hub Director Kazuyuki Funaki.