Japan lands on Moon but glitch threatens mission

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Japan lands on Moon but glitch threatens mission

19 January 2024

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

A Japanese robot has successfully touched down on the Moon but problems with its solar power system mean the mission may live for just a few hours.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) put itself gently on the lunar surface near an equatorial crater.

The feat made the Asian nation only the fifth country to soft-land on Earth's natural satellite, after the US, the Soviet Union, China and India.

Engineers are now battling to save the mission, however.

For reasons not yet fully understood, the craft's solar cells will not generate electricity.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68035314

[marble falls]

1. "Let the bidding begin, ladies and gentlemen, what am I bid for this 20 acre piece of prime moon estate?"

[CloudWatcher]

2. Flamey end pointing up

Fyi Scott Manley reviewed the public telemetry and thinks that it basically landed wrong-way-up. There was a moderately tricky maneuver planned just before touchdown and if it didn't work ... well it seems like it's just not oriented correctly.

[keithbvadu2]

3. Just go give it a good kick.... Somebody? Anybody? AAA?

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Japan hopes sunlight can save stricken Slim Moon lander

The Slim spacecraft was turned off just three hours after its historic lunar touchdown on Saturday to save power.

Engineers had realised its solar cells were pointing west, away from the Sun, and could not generate electricity.

But the mission team is now hopeful the situation could improve as lighting conditions shift.

"If sunlight hits the Moon from the west in the future, we believe there's a possibility of power generation, and we're currently preparing for restoration," the Jaxa statement read.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68055186

[NNadir]

5. Well, at least they're not covered by snow, like the solar cells I saw last week in Massachusetts.

Solar cells, of course, do have a reliability problem; on Earth it's called "night."

It''s too bad the Japanese couldn't get their hands on a little ²³⁸Pu.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Stricken Japanese Moon mission landed on its nose

Japan's Moon lander ended up on its nose when it made its historic touchdown on the lunar surface.

The first picture of the stricken Slim spacecraft shows it rotated 90 degrees from how it should have come to rest.

This will go some way to explaining the difficulties it has had in generating the electricity needed to operate.

The image was captured by the small baseball-sized robot called Sora-Q that was ejected from Slim moments before touchdown last Saturday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68091389

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission

Japan's Moon lander has resumed operations after being shut down for a week due to a power supply issue.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it re-established contact with the lander on Sunday, indicating that the glitch had been fixed.

Its solar cells are working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight, the agency said.
...
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Jaxa shared a photograph taken by Slim of a nearby rock that it nicknamed a "toy poodle".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68125589

"Communication with SLIM was successfully established last night, and operations resumed! Science observations were immediately started with the MBC, and we obtained first light for the 10-band observation. This figure shows the “toy poodle” observed in the multi-band observation."

Link to tweet

That closeup presumably is of use to scientists.