SLIM landed on the lunar surface on Friday, January 19 at 16:20 CET. Japan thus became the fifth country in the world to be able to transport its equipment into the natural orbit of the Earth. The control center was able to connect with the module after landing, but its solar panel did not start generating electricity.
“The battery was shut down (on the day of the landing at 18:57 CET) with 12 percent power remaining,” JAXA said.
“According to the telemetry data, the solar cells of the SLIM module are facing west. If sunlight hits the moon from the west, we believe it will be possible to generate electricity. At the moment, we are preparing to resume operations,” the Japanese space agency added.
The Japanese probe landed on the moon, but the solar panels do not capture energy
“Therefore, there is still the possibility of a restart at a later stage of the lunar day. The technicians continue to work on the analysis of the obtained data as well as images. JAXA will provide more information at the end of the week,” he summed up the X network cosmonautics specialist Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Agency and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.
The goal was a precise landing
JAXA also reported that it was able to complete the transfer of data and images acquired during landing and then on the lunar surface.
Foto: Kim Kyung-hoon, Reuters
Smart Lunar Exploration Lander Miniature Model (SLIM)
The SLIM module landed in the Shioli crater, which is 300 meters wide and lies in the lunar sea Mare Nectaris on the far side of the Moon.
JAXA is now preparing to analyze the data obtained to determine if the mission succeeded in fulfilling its mission of landing on the lunar surface no more than 100 meters from the chosen location.
Foto: Eugene Hoshiko, ČTK/AP
A palm-sized model of the Lunar Vehicle 2 (LEV-2).
According to Japanese experts, two miniature rovers: LEV-1 and LEV-2 (or SORA-Q) successfully got out of the module to the surface after landing.
E.g. The SORA-Q rover is only slightly larger than a tennis ball and was designed to change its originally spherical shape as needed as it moves across the lunar surface.
Lander SLIM also carries two small modules. The first is the LEV-1 which is a small hopper lander with a trio of scientific instruments. The second is the LEV-2 (Sora-Q) which is an extremely small vehicle weighing 250 g equipped with a pair of cameras. pic.twitter.com/r7OI7LDnwQ
— Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) January 19, 2024
Last year, the Indian Vikram module successfully landed in the region of the South Pole of the Moon, but the Russian Luna-25 failed to land. In addition to India, the United States, Russia (Soviet Union) and China have already managed to transport their technology to the moon.
The Peregrine module of the American private company Astrobotic Technology failed to reach the Moon this year. The apparatus eventually perished in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Peregrine lunar module burned up in Earth’s atmosphere
2024-01-23 10:48:20
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