Jakarta – The Japanese spacecraft named SLIM successfully landed on the lunar surface. This is a new history for Japanese space.
SLIM began launching from Japan in September and landed on the lunar surface today. President of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Hiroshi Yamakawa, confirmed that the soft landing was successful.
Hiroshi said the spacecraft was capable of sending signals. However, the capabilities of the solar panels appear to be compromised during landing, leaving the spacecraft dependent on battery power.
“I believe this is a bigger step forward,” Hitoshi Kuninaka, director general of JAXA was quoted as saying detikINET which was reported by CNBC.
This makes Japan the fifth country to land on the moon, after Russia, the United States, China and India. India joined this list with the Chandrayaan-3 mission last year.
Japan’s SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) is a research mission. SLIM carries a variety of scientific payloads, including analysis cameras and a pair of lunar rovers.
But unfortunately, SLIM’s mission may end prematurely because its solar cells do not produce electricity. SLIM currently operates on limited battery power, expected to only last a few hours.
The JAXA team is currently analyzing the data to determine the cause of the solar cell problem and next steps. It is possible that the solar cell problem occurred because the plane was not pointing in the desired direction.
There is hope that when the sun’s angle changes on the moon, the solar cells might be able to recharge, but that may take time and will depend on whether SLIM can survive the frigid lunar nights.
JAXA believes the mission has met the criteria to declare it a minimum success, as the spacecraft achieved a lunar landing.
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2024-01-21 03:00:44
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