The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that it has shut down the power supply to its lunar lander, SLIM, in hopes of “eventually” restarting the spacecraft in the future. Japan has become the fifth country in history to reach the Moon, as the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on the lunar surface early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the lander’s solar panel stopped generating power. “With the battery charge level at 12%, the battery was disconnected (according to plan) to avoid the inability to restart rescue operations due to excessive discharge,” JAXA said in a message published on X. “According to telemetry data, SLIM’s solar cells are facing west. If sunlight begins to shine on the Moon from the west, there is a possibility of generating power, and we are preparing for a rescue operation. SLIM can only operate with power supplied by solar cells,” the agency added.
Japan joins the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India as the fifth country to reach the Moon. The SLIM lander was launched into Earth’s orbit in September using the Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket. It orbited the Earth for a while before entering the Moon’s orbit on December 25. SLIM carried two autonomous rovers – the LEV-1 and LEV-2 lunar vehicles, which officials say were released just before landing.
LEV-1, equipped with an antenna and a camera, was tasked with recording the SLIM landing. LEV-2 is a spherical rover equipped with two cameras, developed by JAXA in cooperation with Sony, toy manufacturer Tomy, and Doshisha University.
Although not all stages of the mission went according to plan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is satisfied with the landing of its spacecraft on the lunar surface and is pleased with the achievements that have been made. More information about the status of SLIM and current results will be published at the end of the week.
[Source: Fox News]
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