In other great space news --- JAXA's SLIM lander survived the lunar night!!! We don't know much about the health of the spacecraft, but the communications equipment appears to be functional.
L'atterrisseur lunaire japonais a survécu à la dure nuit lunaire, l'équivalent de deux semaines terrestres sans soleil et glaciales.
"Hier soir, une commande a été envoyée à #SLIM et une réponse a été reçue", a déclaré l'agence spatiale nationale Jaxa sur X.
L'engin a été mis en mode veille après un atterrissage difficile en janvier, laissant ses panneaux solaires orientés dans le mauvais sens et incapables de produire de l'électricité.
The JAXA SLIM lander, lying in its awkward stance on the lunar surface, responded last night to a command sent by JAXA. Against all hope, it appears that it survived the cold lunar night.
The batteries were expected to get charged around this time, shortly after lunar midday, since the solar panels are facing southwest instead of up.
Apparently, the temperature of the comm equipment was too high, so comms was quickly terminated. Stay tuned!
The JAXA SLIM lunar lander was expected to wake up again around May 24, hopefully having survived a 4th brutal lunar night. After all, against all odds, it had survived the first 3 nights.
But it has not responded in two attempts made so far. Perhaps, its electronics finally succumbed to the lunar elements? The #SLIM team will try again tomorrow.
Note that the solar panels get sunlight well after lunar noon due to their unfortunate orientation with the lander in the upside down position.
🤞
6/n
In a PLOT TWIST, the JAXA lunar lander, SLIM, has survived the lunar night (which is bloody cold and was expected to irrevocably freeze all circuits).
SLIM is a technology demonstration, designed to test tech for touching down with pinpoint (<100m) accurate at a target site. The mission achieved this in spades, with estimated accuracy of ~3-4m, although tipped due to the loss of one of the main engines.
SLIM carries 1 science instrument, which it's used but... I guess will now use some more!
Tweet from the SLIM mission team account reading: Communication with #SLIM was terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high. Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled. #GoodAfterMoon#JAXA
After a brief awakening, Japan’s unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) is out of action again but will resume its mission if it survives the incredibly cold two-week lunar night. The Japan Times has more on SLIM’s odyssey to the Moon. https://flip.it/s_.zWH #Science#Space#SpaceExploration#Moon#SLIM
Japan's SLIM lunar lander not only survived its sideways touchdown, it managed to complete its science mission...and along the way, take some beautiful landscape photos.
So we have a new render of JAXA/ISRO Lunar Polar Exploration mission (LuPEx) spacecraft stack which will be launched by H3 (24L variant)
Propulsion Module + Lander Module + Rover (weighing ~6,500 kg)
• Precursor mission to ISRO's Lunar Sample return mission.
• Pre Phase-A and Phase-A feasibility studies completed
• Lander configuration finalized and under review process.
Bei klarer Nacht wollte ich mal mit der großen Optik auf den Mond halten. Irgendwie kam ich auf die Idee, die Landestelle der japanischen Mondmission #SLIM herauszusuchen, habe ich hier nach bestem Wissen markiert. Die Landefähre konnte ich auf den Bildern nicht entdecken :-) Die Aufnahme ist aus einzelnen Panels (3x3) zusammengesetzt. Für die neun Einzelbilder wurden jeweils kurze Videosquenzen mit je 1000 Bildern verwendet, aus denen die jeweils besten 30 Bilder zum Stacking ausgewählt wurden.
JAXA's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is getting ready for landing on the lunar surface tomorrow Friday Jan 19 at 15:20 UTC.
The spacecraft, nicknamed the “Moon Sniper,” will demonstrate precision landing in a target area less than 100m in diameter, using real-time image recognition technology.
The spacecraft will land on a sloping surface near the crater Shioli.
SLIM carries a number of science instruments and will also deploy 2 rovers.
There is but a slim chance that SLIM can survive the lunar night, which starts tomorrow. It does not have radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) to provide heat and power to its electronics. Nighttime temperatures can fall to a chilly -130° C, 140 K.
Also, due to the solar panel's SW orientation, batteries won't get recharged until late afternoon on the next lunar day, i.e., around Feb 26.
It is a bitter-sweet Good Night for the JAXA SLIM lander as its transmission was turned off by ground station at 00:29:40 UTC. There is hope that it may wake up about 3 weeks from now as the Sun lights up its solar panels again. There is also the realization that this was probably the last transmission from SLIM.
The Sun sets at the SLIM site tomorrow morning around 09:00 UTC.
Come to think of it, SLIM managed to meet most its objectives, in spite of the failed engine.
👏 🙏 #SLIM#Space
52/n
Here is a parting gift by the JAXA SLIM lander as night fell around it earlier today.
It is an image taken by the CAM-PX camera just before the sun set. The sun is at such a low elevation that only the tops of the small rocks and the hills in the background are lit up. This is the same scene whose image was taken on Jan 19 in the morning sun, as shown in the 2nd image below.
Wishing you and your two rover buddies - sweet dreams.
JAXA - Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar landing
SLIM_JAXA: "After completing operation from 1/30 ~ 1/31, #SLIM entered a two week dormancy period during the long lunar night 🌚. Although SLIM was not designed for the harsh lunar nights, we plan to try to operate again from mid-February, when the Sun will shine again on SLIM’s solar cells."
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