Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced its plans to land an unmanned rover on the surface of the moon by 2018.

Japanese space agency announced that the country will land a unmanned rover on moon in the coming three years joining other few nations who have achieved this technological milestone.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) described the plan to a panel that included members of the cabinet and the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.

A spokesperson for the space agency said that the presentation before the panel was the initial step and other procedures are required to be completed before the final plan is approval by the government. The agency is planning to use use its Epsilon solid-fuel rocket technology to carry and deploy a Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe on the surface if the plan is approed by the government.

Japan has been among the leading space-faring nations and it was the first Asian country to put a satellite into orbit around the Earth. However, in recent years its space programme has been hampered by budget cuts. Its earlier mission to Mars in 1998 that was affected by technical glitches and failed and was abandoned in 2003.