Japan’s moon lander has resumed operations after experiencing a power crisis due to an unconventional landing. The probe, nicknamed the “moon sniper”, encountered difficulties when it tumbled down a crater slope during its landing on January 20. This left its solar batteries facing in the wrong direction and unable to generate electricity. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) managed to prioritize transmitting landing data before the battery ran out. Fortunately, the probe is expected to be able to recharge once the west side of the moon starts receiving sunlight in the coming days. The space agency, Jaxa, confirmed that communication had been established and scientific observations had resumed with the multi-band camera (MBC) successfully obtaining the first light for 10-band observation. An image shot by Slim showing the “toy poodle” rock near the lander was also posted by the agency on Twitter. This successful operation makes Japan the fifth nation to achieve a soft lunar landing, an accomplishment previously achieved by the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India. The precision of Slim’s landing within 100 meters of its target, touching down only 55 meters away, is far more accurate than the usual landing zone range of several kilometers. Slim had aimed for a crater where the moon’s mantle is believed to be exposed on the surface.
Two probes detached successfully, including one equipped with a transmitter and another designed to trundle around the lunar surface beaming images to Earth. The mini-rover, slightly bigger than a tennis ball, was co-developed by the firm behind the Transformer toys. This achievement follows on the heels of two previous failed Japanese lunar missions, one public and one private.
In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States’ Artemis 1 mission. In April, Japanese startup ispace attempted in vain to become the first private company to land on the moon, losing communication with its craft after a “hard landing”.
