Japan's First Moon Lander Survives Third Lunar Night
Japan's space agency, JAXA, announced on Wednesday that their first moon lander, SLIM, has successfully survived its third freezing lunar night. This news comes after receiving an image from the device, three months after its historic landing on the moon.
The lunar probe responded to a signal from Earth on Tuesday night, confirming its continued operation despite the harsh lunar environment. During a lunar night, temperatures can plummet to minus 170 degrees Celsius (minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit), posing a significant challenge for any spacecraft.
SLIM, which stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, landed on the lunar surface on January 20th, making Japan the fifth country to successfully place a probe on the moon. However, the initial landing did not go as planned. SLIM landed upside down, with its solar panels unable to see the sun. This forced the agency to turn it off within hours. Fortunately, when the sun rose eight days later, SLIM was able to power back on.
Despite not being designed to survive lunar nights, SLIM's key functions remain operational after repeated cycles of extreme temperature changes. JAXA plans to closely monitor the lander's condition as it continues its mission.
This successful operation comes amidst other significant developments in space exploration. NASA recently restored contact with Voyager 1, the farthest space probe from Earth, after months of receiving garbled data. However, a U.S. lunar probe developed by a private company ceased operation a month after its landing in February, and an Indian moon lander failed to establish communication after touchdown in 2023.
With SLIM's continued success, scientists hope to gain valuable insights into the moon's origin by comparing the mineral compositions of moon rocks with those of Earth. This mission marks a significant milestone for Japan's space program and contributes to the ongoing exploration of our solar system.