TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Japan’s SLIM spacecraft achieved an unconventionally precise moon landing, but more than a week after it ran out of power because its solar panels were at the wrong angle. , the space agency announced Monday that power had been restored.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) restored communications with the Lunar Smart Lander (SLIM) late Sunday, nearly nine days after the spacecraft touched down, a JAXA spokesperson said. This made Japan the fifth country to land a probe on the moon. Month.
According to JAXA, the spacecraft may have been able to generate electricity by changing the direction of sunlight.
SLIM has resumed operations using a multiband spectral camera to analyze the composition of olivine on the moon’s surface, searching for clues to the Moon’s origins, the agency added.
Shortly before landing, SLIM lost thrust from one of its two main engines for unknown reasons and ended up drifting dozens of meters away from its target. The lander came to a safe stop on a gentle slope, but images taken by the wheeled rover the size of a baseball that it deployed appeared to have tipped over with its engines pointing up.
The spacecraft’s solar panels were facing west due to misalignment and were unable to generate electricity immediately. JAXA manually disconnected SLIM’s depleted battery 2 hours and 37 minutes after landing, when data transmission to Earth was completed.
JAXA has not given a firm date for when SLIM will end its mission on the moon, but the agency has previously said the lander was not designed to survive the lunar night. The next lunar night begins on Thursday.