TOKYO — A Japanese spacecraft has landed on the Moon successfully, but the vehicle's continued operations are uncertain as its solar power generation system is not working, the country's space agency said Saturday.

With the touchdown of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, Japan has made its first lunar landing, joining the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India as the only countries to accomplish the feat.

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"We believe it succeeded in making a soft landing" as data transmitted from the craft to Earth so far suggested most of the mounted equipment was working properly, Hitoshi Kuninaka, a senior official from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, told a press conference.

But the lander's battery will last for only a matter of hours, the agency said.

The spacecraft is designed to test technology for conducting pinpoint landings on the surface of gravitational bodies with unprecedented precision of less than 100 meters from intended targets, as opposed to previous Moon landers that have an accuracy of within several to around a dozen kilometers, according to JAXA.

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Kuninaka said, "We believe we came close to 100-meter precision" with the landing, as the vehicle matched the expected trajectory and acceleration prior to touching down.

JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa said that while the agency still needs time to analyze exactly what happened to the spacecraft as it reached the lunar surface, Japan is ready to share relevant knowledge about pinpoint landing technology in international cooperation frameworks.

The agency has said it is necessary to realize a transition away from an era of "landing where we can" toward one of "landing where we want" for future Moon missions, which could include searching for water, requiring pinpoint landings on uneven surfaces such as slopes.

Sharing the technology for such precise landings would enhance sustainable, long-term exploration of the Moon, Yamakawa told Saturday's press conference.

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Using the SLIM, dubbed the "Moon Sniper," the agency hopes to help unravel the origins of the Moon by carrying out a composition analysis of rocks believed to be part of its mantle, it said.

The probe began the final stage of its landing mission around midnight Friday from a point some 15 km above the surface.

According to the agency, the vehicle can autonomously determine the best spot to land by taking photos of craters and surfaces during its descent and comparing them with imagery that was input in advance.

The spacecraft is designed to land on one of its five legs first and use another after tipping over to stabilize its position.

JAXA officials said they suspect the built-in power generation system is not properly facing the sun, and that its solar powering might begin to function once the sunlight conditions change.

The explorer was launched on an H2A rocket on Sept. 7 last year from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The spacecraft had entered lunar orbit on Dec. 25.

Its launch was initially scheduled for around May last year but was delayed due to a failed liftoff of Japan's next-generation H3 rocket several months earlier. It was postponed again in August due to the weather.