It’s Alive! Japan’s Moon Lander Comes Back To Life, Starts Snapping Photos

Astronomy

 Japan’s historic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is back in operation ten days after making a gentle touchdown on the moon. Due to a little glitch during its flawless landing, the lander ended up on its side and could not charge its solar panels, forcing it to run only on batteries. Crucially, the solar panels were facing westward at the time, away from the Sun, giving the crew hope that sunlight would ultimately reach the panels as the Moon slowly revolved. And yesterday it did just that. SLIM has awoken and has even responded with a picture. 

The group got right into the scientific mission and has already surpassed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) expectations. A precise, pinpoint soft landing within 100 meters (330 feet) of a predetermined target area was the aim. Apollo 11’s planned landing site, in contrast, was an elliptical of 20 by 5 kilometers (12 by 3.1 miles). It looks like SLIM landed precisely 55 meters (180 feet) from its target—a feat never previously accomplished on another planet. 

Despite the somewhat off-kilter landing, SLIM sent out its two tiny rovers, one of which took a picture of the spacecraft tilted on the surface, to explore their surroundings. With the power back on and no longer reliant on batteries, SLIM is examining the intriguing rocks around the lander with its cameras.


After being named after dog breeds, the six that have been recognized are Toy Poodle, Shiba Inu, Bulldog, Akita Inu, Kai Ken, and St Bernard. SLIM has started spectroscopic analysis on the Toy Poodle rock, a method that lets us determine an object’s composition from its light. SLIM will proceed to the following rocks when Toy Poodle has been thoroughly examined.

Simultaneously with the surface operations, SLIM was also broken off from orbit. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft flew over the landing location on January 22 and took pictures of SLIM from orbit. At that moment, LRO was located roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) above the lunar surface. A side-by-side image displays the 2.4-meter (8-foot) lander along with the impact of its rocket on the Moon. 
The regolith, the uppermost layer of lunar dirt that is darker than the underlying layer, was raised by the retrorockets. It is composed of tiny, jagged, worn, and thin rocks. Moon dust can be hazardous to both humans and instruments; astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt of Apollo 17 was found to have a dust allergy.

The regolith lifting was observed near the Indian Vikram lander last summer and even during the Apollo missions; in fact, it was so noticeable during Apollo 11 that Buzz Aldrin said, just before they touched down on the Moon, that they were “picking up some dust.”
Now that the Sun has set, SLIM will make every effort to make up for lost time and complete its science mission before the lander returns to sleep mode in preparation for the icy 14-day lunar winter.  
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