Japanese lander survives second lunar night

The SLIM lander endured a long lunar night with temperatures down to -130 degrees Celsius for the second consecutive time.

A new image of the Moon's surface sent back by the SLIM spacecraft after waking up from the second night. Photo: JAXA — A new image of the Moon's surface sent back by the SLIM spacecraft after waking up from the second night. Photo: *JAXA*

SLIM mission members announced the news on March 27 along with a new photo taken by the lander's navigation camera. SLIM (Smart Lunar Lander) launched last September and landed on January 19, making Japan the fifth country to have a soft landing on the Moon (the other four are the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India), according to Space .

The solar-powered SLIM landed upside down, not in the optimal orientation for collecting light. Contact with the 200-kilogram probe was lost shortly after, but it awoke on January 28 and began collecting data. The mission team put SLIM into hibernation a few days later before a two-week lunar night, during which time the ground temperature at the landing site dropped to about -130 degrees Celsius.

SLIM achieved its primary mission objectives, including a precise landing, the deployment of two small rovers, and a series of science experiments. At the time, no one thought the probe would survive. But it did when it was revived late last month. Now, SLIM is back up and running for the second time, though the extreme conditions are starting to take their toll.

"According to the data collected, some temperature sensors and battery cells began to malfunction, but most of the functions that worked after the first lunar night were still usable after the second lunar night," the mission team said.

A month after SLIM landed in January, the Odysseus lander, built and operated by Houston-based private company Intuitive Machines, also successfully touched down. Odysseus’ landing marked the first time a private spacecraft had achieved the feat and the first American vehicle on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Odysseus operated for a week, then went to sleep before the first lunar night. Last week, Intuitive Machines announced that the Odysseus mission had ended because the lander was permanently inoperable.

An Khang (According to Space )

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