Japan's SLIM Moon Sniper Wakes Up After Two-Week-Long Cold Lunar Night

After a two-week-long lunar night, Japan's own Moon lander has woken up.

SLIM Moon Lander Wakes Up

After the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down on the lunar surface, it tipped and went to sleep as the orientation of its solar panel did not enable its batteries to recharge.

However, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reports that as the angle of the Sun's angle shifted in a manner that enabled the recharging of the SLIM, it woke up two weeks later. The lander was then able to reestablish communications with Earth.

The organization reported through X (formerly Twitter) that the lander was able to successfully survive the lunar night while maintaining its capabilities for communication. They shared on Monday that the day before, they issued a command that SLIM responded to.

Communications were terminated after a brief period, as it was still at the height of midday on the Moon and the communication equipment's temperature was extremely high. Nevertheless, preparations are made for operations to resume when the temperatures of the instruments have sufficiently cooled down.

JAXA notes that the lander was not designed to live through harsh lunar nights. Surrounding the landing site, temperatures can reach as low as minus 133 degrees Celsius in the lunar night.

Japan's SLIM 'Moon Sniper'

SLIM, which has also been called the "Moon Sniper" due to its precision landing technology, successfully touched down at its targeted landing site on January 20. While it was 55 meters off target, it still landed within the region of its target.

Such a feat was a milestone for the space program of Japan after experiencing a string of failures. This made Japan the fifth country to have a soft landing on the Moon. Japan comes after the US, the Soviet Union, China, and India.

The lander was able to make observations of ten rocks after it landed.

However, when it descended, the Moon Sniper experienced problems with its engine, making it end up on its side. This made its solar panels face west rather than face up.

After working on a limited battery capacity for a few hours, the lander transmitted a mosaic shot of its landing site. This was before it eventually shut down once more. The space agency of Japan had hoped that light could reach the solar cells of the craft as the angle of the Sun over the Moon shifted.

The Moon Sniper was then able to wake up 10 days after. It then started taking more shots.

However, it only remained awake for a short while. On January 31, the SLIM went into a two-week dormancy period through a cold and long lunar night. It has now just woken up.

Lunar Race

Other countries are also in a race to reach the Moon. These countries include the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and Russia.

Just recently, the commercial Odysseus lander from Intuitive Machines was able to land close to the lunar south pole. This marks the first US craft to reach the lunar surface since the Apollo missions 51 years ago.

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