Japan\u2019s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully landed on the moon on Saturday, making Japan the fifth country to achieve this. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the precision landing at around 12:20 a.m. However, the success was overshadowed by solar power issues that threatened to curtail the mission aimed at demonstrating \u201cprecision\u201d landing technology and revitalizing Japan\u2019s space program.<\/p>\n
While SLIM touched down on the lunar surface, its solar panels faced difficulties in generating electricity, possibly due to incorrect positioning. Hitoshi Kuninaka, the head of JAXA\u2019s research centre, highlighted the priority of transferring SLIM\u2019s data to Earth as the probe relied solely on its battery, expected to last \u201ca few hours.\u201d Life-sustaining measures, such as turning off the heater, were implemented to conserve battery life.<\/p>\n
JAXA chose to maintain the status quo rather than take risky actions and expressed hope that a shift in sunlight\u2019s angle would hit the panels in a way that could restore functionality. Kuninaka mentioned that it takes approximately 30 days for the solar angle to change on the moon, presenting an opportunity for the light to hit the solar cell differently.<\/p>\n
Despite the successful landing, the signal from SLIM was lost, according to data from NASA\u2019s Deep Space Network. It remains unclear whether the signal loss is temporary or a power-saving measure.<\/p>\n
SLIM, dubbed the \u201cmoon sniper,\u201d aimed for a precision landing within 100 meters of its target, showcasing advanced technology that JAXA believes will be crucial for future exploration of the moon\u2019s hilly poles, seen as potential sources of oxygen, fuel, and water.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s successful lunar landing places it in an elite group alongside the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India, the only other nations that have achieved soft landings on the moon. As Japan seeks a more prominent role in space, this achievement aligns with its ambitions, including plans to send an astronaut to the moon as part of NASA\u2019s Artemis program in the coming years.<\/p>\n
However, Japan\u2019s space program has faced setbacks, including the launch failure of its flagship rocket H3 in March. Despite these challenges, the successful lunar landing by SLIM showcases Japan\u2019s commitment to space exploration and technological advancements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While SLIM touched down on the lunar surface, its solar panels faced difficulties in generating electricity, possibly due to incorrect positioning. Hitoshi Kuninaka, the head of JAXA\u2019s research centre, highlighted the priority of transferring SLIM\u2019s data to Earth as the probe relied solely on its battery, expected to last \u201ca few hours.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":371,"featured_media":10579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[175,4282,6939,449,268,4284,2756,6940,6937,2202,6938,4753],"class_list":["post-10578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japan","tag-china","tag-h3","tag-hitoshi-kuninaka","tag-india","tag-japan","tag-jaxa","tag-nasa","tag-nasas-deep-space-network","tag-smart-lander-for-investigating-moon-slim","tag-soviet-union","tag-the-japan-aerospace-exploration-agency-jaxa","tag-the-united-states"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/371"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}