After its historic touchdown on the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was spotted by a NASA orbiter. It marked Japan as the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon, following India, China, the United States, and Russia (Soviet Union). From its orbit 50 miles (80 km) above the moon’s surface, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images of SLIM resting at its landing site. According to a statement from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the bright streaks visible in the image are rocky materials ejected from the nearby Shioli crater.
Related: Japan’s SLIM moon lander photographed on the lunar surface — on its nose (image)The images taken by NASA show SLIM’s landing site both before and after the probe’s touchdown. The composite image removes features that remain the same in both images, highlighting changes in reflectance on the lunar surface caused by the lander’s engine exhaust.
A composite image dividing the before image from after. Features that are the same in both images disappear, highlighting the changes in surface brightness from the rocket plume. The image is 2,887 feet wide (880 meters), and lunar north is up. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)Despite ending up upside down due to an engine failure during descent, SLIM achieved its main goal of landing at a chosen site with near-pinpoint accuracy, touching down within 328 feet (100 meters) of its target. However, due to its orientation, the lander cannot use its solar panels to generate electricity and is relying fully on its battery. On Jan. 21, the lander’s battery dropped to 12% capacity, leading to a power down in order to avoid over-discharge and be unable to restart for a recovery operation.
In spite of this setback, JAXA scientists remain optimistic that if sunlight shines on the lander from the lunar west, SLIM’s solar panels might be able to absorb enough sunshine to generate power and recover. Additionally, SLIM successfully deployed two mini-rovers, EV-1 (“Lunar Excursion Vehicle” 1) and LEV-2, on the moon. Both rovers are operating as planned, with the ball-like LEV-2 even managing to capture an image of its upside-down host.
