After successfully landing on the Moon over a week ago, it looks like SLIM is finally getting a chance to conduct some science on the lunar surface. JAXA announced it regained communication with the lander as the batteries began charging with the Sun now in line of sight of the solar panels.
Despite nose down landing, SLIM is back online
Japan’s first lunar lander touched down on January 19 making it only the fifth nation to complete such a feat in history. However, shortly after touching down it was obvious something wasn’t right as the batteries failed to charge.
We now know what went wrong, as it was guessed, the solar panels were indeed not facing east, the direction of the Sun during landing. JAXA shared details that during descent, SLIM experienced a problem with its main propulsion system, even sharing a landing photo of one of the lander’s engine bells falling off.
Due to that, the rocket ended up pitching too far over in its unique landing profile, which saw it use 3D printed crushable legs on its side rather than on its rear. The extra motion ended leaving the rocket almost straight up on its nose, pointing the solar panels towards the west.
Last week the lander was shut down as it ran its battery down to 12% since landing teams wanted to preserve enough batter life to survive another boot up if possible. The it now being local “evening” on the Moon for SLIM, the sun is now in the east and the batteries did in fact begin charging.
JAXA announced it regained connection with the rover Monday which allowed teams to begin science operations right away. However, the lander won’t have long before the Sun will set for SLIM and plunge the lander into darkness Wednesday.
With no onboard heaters, the lander is not expected to survive the lunar night.
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First of its kind rover hops around on the Moon
You might be wondering how in the world (or I guess out of this world?) did JAXA get an photo of its lander? Well the lander carried with it two rovers, which it deployed successfully just before landing.
The first and larger of the two rovers was a first of its kind lunar rover that instead of rolling around or using wheels, it hopped around kind of like a frog. Sadly, the rover has already completed its planned operations and depleted the powered stored inside its battery.
This rover was able to communicate directly with Earth on its own. So while its lander might have ran into problems, it was able to conduct its operations. The second rover was a small sphere that rolled around the surface and had the ability to communicate with the larger hopping rover.
While SLIM’s landing was rather messy, it is still a major historic feat for Japan as it served as the first landing and rover operation its nation has had on the Moon. More lunar missions are on the way, with the title of first commercial company to land on the Moon up for grabs still.
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