The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) developed by Japan's space agency made a soft landing on the Moon on Saturday, making the country the fifth in the world to put spacecraft on the Moon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has attempted the landing of the probe dubbed "moon sniper" within 100 meters (328 feet) of the target. It will take up to a month to verify if SLIM has achieved the precision goals, the agency has said.

Solar power issues threatened to cut short the nation’s mission to prove a "precision" landing technology and revitalize a space program that has suffered setbacks.

JAXA said SLIM landed on the moon's surface at around 12:20 a.m. (1520 GMT Friday), but its solar panels were not able to generate electricity, possibly because they were angled wrong.