2024-03-28 06:49:58
The Japanese lunar probe Slim has sent new images back to Earth after its second two-week lunar night. “We received a response from Slim last night confirming that Slim successfully completed his second night,” the Japanese space agency Jaxa said on Thursday on the online service usual scenery,” it continued.
Attached to the message was a black-and-white photo of the rocky surface of a crater. Slim stands for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”. With the landing of the 2.40 meter by 1.70 meter probe on Earth’s satellite on January 20th, Japan became the fifth lunar landing nation after the USA, the Soviet Union, China and India.
However, the probe had landed on its side, so its solar panels were facing west instead of upwards as planned. As a result, the device initially received little sun and therefore little power. Nevertheless, Slim managed to transmit the first images of the lunar surface to Earth.
After a short waking phase of just two days, the probe was put into sleep mode when the lunar night, which lasts around 14 Earth days, began, as it is not designed for the long lunar nights with temperatures of up to minus 133 degrees Celsius. After a first lunar night, Slim was successfully woken up again at the end of February before the probe was put back into sleep mode.
At the probe’s landing point in Shioli Crater, scientists hope to access rock that is normally hidden far beneath the lunar surface. This rock could provide information about possible water occurrences on the moon.
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