This morning (January 19), Japan’s robotic spacecraft SLIM landed on the moon, marking a huge success for Japan. Japan is the fifth country to make a soft landing on Earth’s closest neighbor. Azel News Rebuttal citing space.com.
“First and foremost, the landing was a success,” Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said at a press conference after today’s landing (Japanese, translated into English by an interpreter during the press conference).
In the future, Hiroshi added, “we should be able to access the lunar surface.” “I believe that the path is now open.”
Other countries in the lunar landing club are the Soviet Union and the United States, which made the first trips to the moon during the Cold War space race. China first landed in December 2013. India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander duo landed in August last year.
But it wasn’t all good news for SLIM. JAXA officials said at a press conference today that the spacecraft’s solar panels are not generating electricity as planned on the lunar surface. If the issue is not resolved soon, SLIM may become permanently silent. Its battery can support just a few hours of activity on the lunar surface.
SLIM (short for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”) was launched last September along with an X-ray space telescope called XRISM. Although the scope deployed to low Earth orbit shortly after launch (and the first test images were recently sent home), SLIM has set off for even more distant celestial shores.
The spacecraft took a long, looping route toward the moon, eventually arriving in lunar orbit on Christmas Day. SLIM’s initial orbit was highly elliptical, at its closest point it was within 373 miles (600 km) of the lunar surface, and at its farthest it was 2,485 miles (4,000 km) away.
Early Sunday morning (January 14), SLIM performed a critical engine burn, circularizing its orbit at an altitude of 373 miles and preparing for a drop-and-landing mission.
These operations further accelerated this morning, lowering SLIM’s orbit to about 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the lunar surface. They culminated in a landing attempt that began around 10 a.m. ET today (15:00 GMT, midnight January 20, 2019) and ended 20 minutes later.
Everything seemed to be going well. SLIM reached various milestones during its descent, and the lander communicated with its handler all the way to the historic touchdown. However, JAXA could not immediately confirm the status of SLIM after landing. About an hour later, the agency provided an update through a press conference and explained the spacecraft’s power issues.
According to JAXA officials, it is unclear why the solar cells are not working. However, other hardware on the SLIM appears to be working fine, so it is unlikely that it was damaged during touchdown. JAXA said the lander may not be facing the sun as expected.
SLIM aims to land within 330 feet (100 meters) of its target site on the rim of the Siori Crater, giving the spacecraft its nickname “Moon Sniper.”
“While impressive in itself, this mission’s landing ambitions are also key to the future of scientific lunar exploration,” the Planetary Society wrote in the mission description.
“Global interest in the moon is growing, and many countries and commercial organizations are entering the field,” said the nonprofit advocacy group led by former TV “Science Guy” Bill Nye. added. “As lunar exploration advances, so too does the need to target specific locations to address salient science questions. SLIM’s mission architecture moves the standard for lunar landing missions from easy-to-land locations to We want it to land exactly where we want it.”
JAXA officials said at a press conference that SLIM appears to have achieved the desired landing precision, but it could take about a month for the mission team to confirm that conclusion.
SLIM also aimed to demonstrate that small, relatively inexpensive spacecraft could perform impressive feats of exploration. The spacecraft weighs just 440 pounds (200 kilograms) without propellant and cost about 18 billion yen (US$120 million) to develop, according to the Planetary Society.
SLIM also carried two small probes: a small hopper called LEV-1 and a ball-shaped probe known as LEV-2. (“LEV” stands for “Lunar Excursion Vehicle.”) These small robots are designed to deploy from the SLIM mothership, collect their own data, and take photos.
Data shows both LEV-1 and LEV-2 were deployed as planned, JAXA officials said today. And LEV-1 is known to be operational, further enhancing the mission’s success.
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