Japan’s historic lunar lander, SLIM, has officially been powered down in preparation for a brutal and possibly deadly lunar night that will last approximately 14.5 days. But before going into what is likely to be an eternal slumber, the small spacecraft offered one last glimpse of Japan’s space agency JAXA’s new home of mission control.
[Related: Japan’s SLIM lunar lander stuck the landing—upside down.]
“Last night (January 31st to February 1st), we sent a command to turn on the rover’s communication device just in case, but there was no response, so we confirmed that SLIM had entered hibernation. “I did it,” the machine-translated message said. JAXA Posted in X on Thursday. “This is the last scene captured by her SLIM navigation camera before dusk.”
After the service ends from 1/30 to 1/31, #slim During the long moonlit night 🌚, I entered a 2-week dormant period. Although SLIM is not designed for harsh lunar nights, he plans to resume operations in mid-February when the sun will once again illuminate his SLIM’s solar cells. pic.twitter.com/JO4ZgDaOxo
— Small lunar landing demonstration vehicle SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) February 1, 2024
Japan’s Smart Lunar Survey Lander (SLIM) first encountered trouble during its descent on January 19, when its main engine failed about 162 feet above the lunar surface. The resulting loss of thrust caused the lander to deorbit and, although it arrived safely, the nose of the lander came down with the SLIM’s solar panels facing west. Engineers feared that the lander would not be able to generate enough power to continue communicating with Earth for long periods of time, and SLIM went silent just hours after arriving, but two small autonomous robots escaped unharmed and began his own investigation.
But after nearly 10 days, the return of the sun will restart SLIM and provide enough energy to begin several more operations, including using a multiband camera to scan the chemical composition of the Moon’s surroundings. did. JAXA researchers are currently analyzing all the data that SLIM relayed to Earth, with a particular focus on the detection of olivine, which “will help solve the mystery of the Moon’s origin.” JAXA officials This was said in a statement released on February 1st.
Mr. Slim last glance As we enter the long lunar night, temperatures plummet to -208 degrees Fahrenheit and the landscape darkens. It’s interesting to compare the last photo to his two previous snapshots of SLIM, taken immediately after the touchdown on January 19th and after he came back online 10 days later. When viewed side by side, this triptych emphasizes the way the sun protrudes from the frame and slowly sets across the lunar horizon, casting long shadows across the lunar landscape and regolith. (Photos below: From left to right: SLIM images of the lunar surface from January 19th to February 1st. credit: JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University. )
But while SLIM’s months-long journey may very well be officially over, JAXA has not stopped operations yet. After all, spacecraft often turn out to be much more resilient than originally thought. Just ask his NASA team behind Voyager and Ingenuity.
“SLIM was not designed for harsh moonlit nights, but we plan to try operating it again in mid-February, when the sun will once again shine on SLIM’s solar cells.” JAXA Posted in X on Thursday.
