article_snippet.sent: (The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced this week that Japan would put an unmanned rover on the surface of the moon by 2018, joining an elite club of nations who have explored Earth's satellite.
article_snippet.sent: If it is approved, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will reportedly use The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Epsilon solid-fuel rocket technology to carry and deploy a SLIM probe -- the acronym stands for "Smart Lander for Investigating Moon" -- on the surface of the celestial body.
article_snippet.sent: Smart Lander for Investigating Moon" -- will use face recognition software found in digital cameras, which will be repurposed to enable the craft to recognize craters on the surface, JAXA spokesperson Chihito Onda said.
article_snippet.sent: The move could be seen as Japan's attempt to play catchup to Japan Asian neighbors China and India, which have both notched significant extraterrestrial victories in recent years -- China's Yutu lunar rover outlasted expectations and India successfully put a probe into orbit around Mars the first time of asking.
article_snippet.sent: In 2008 Japan put Japan SELENE craft -- known in Japan as Kaguya, after a Japanese moon princess from a 10th century folk tale -- into orbit around the moon to gather data about Japan surface.
article_snippet.sent: data about its surface will also be used to calculate a suitable landing site for China's Yutu lunar rover.
article_snippet.sent: JAXA has also put a probe on an asteroid, which returned to Earth in 2010.
article_snippet.sent: Along with China, the United States and the former Soviet Union are the only other nations to have so far landed craft on the surface of the moon.
highlights_snippet.sent: Japan aims to put an unmanned rover on the surface of the moon by 2018 .
  