Japan’s SLIM lunar lander seen in an image attributed to JAXA, Takara Tomy, Sony Group Corporation and Doshisha University.
After a brief awakening, the Japanese lunar lander is out of commission again but will resume its mission if it survives the two weeks of lunar night, the space agency announced Thursday.
The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.
As the sun’s angle changed, it came back to life for two days this week and made scientific observations of a crater with its high-tech camera.
“After completing its operation from 01/30 to 01/31, #SLIM entered a two-week dormant period during the long lunar night,” space agency JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter.
“Although SLIM was not designed for harsh lunar nights, we plan to try to operate again starting in mid-February, when the sun shines on SLIM’s solar cells again.”
JAXA said SLIM was able to “successfully carry out the observations… as originally planned” with its multi-band spectroscopic camera and could study more target areas than initially planned.
The space agency also released a black-and-white photo of the rock surface taken by the spacecraft on Thursday.
It followed other grainy images returned by the mission aimed at studying an exposed area of the lunar mantle, the typically deep inner layer beneath its crust.
SLIM, nicknamed “Moon Sniper” for its precision landing technology, landed in its target landing zone on January 20.
The feat was a boon for Japan’s space program after a series of recent failures, making the country the fifth country to achieve a “soft landing” on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.
But during its descent, the craft experienced engine problems and ended up on its side, meaning the solar panels were facing west rather than up.
Russia, China and other countries, from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates, are also trying their luck at reaching the Moon.
US company Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander began losing fuel after liftoff in January, dooming its mission. It probably burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on its return.
NASA has also postponed plans for crewed lunar missions under its Artemis program.
© 2024 AFP
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