A Japanese spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon, but stopped working a few hours later due to a malfunction. The researchers hope that, with a bit of luck, the machine can restart.
Japan on Saturday became the fifth country to send its entire probe to the surface of the Moon. Even though the spacecraft worked on the Moon for only a few hours and then shut down due to an electrical system failure, it was the most accurate landing in history to date, Nature reports.
The Lunar Exploration Lander (SLIM) landed near the Shioli crater, south of the Moon’s equator, early Saturday morning. The device landed nearly four months after the launch vehicle launched from the Tanegashima Space Center.
The spacecraft suffered a fatal failure, as a result of which the solar panels did not begin to produce electricity. For the number of hours the SLIM transmitted data, it ran on battery power.
Japan landed on the Moon two weeks after a mission by a private American company failed shortly after launch. The last time the Japanese attempted to reach the moon was a year ago. At that moment, the lander of a private company operating in the country crashed.
Innovative technology
According to experts, what makes the Japanese lunar journey extraordinary is the precision achieved in the SLIM landing. If in previous landings the probes of other countries had missed the target by a few or ten kilometers, the Japanese missed it by only a hundred meters.
For this purpose, SLIM used a new camera-based navigation technology, with which the surface of the celestial body was photographed as it flew over the Moon and the information collected was applied to the on-board charts.
Why did it fail?
Observers suspect that SLIM may have rolled during landing and therefore could not face the solar panels towards the sun. At the same time, JAXA engineers hoped that if sunlight reached the panels sooner or later, the device could come back to life.
Before landing, SLIM also had to eject two robots that would photograph the lander. It is not yet clear whether the robots were ejected from the car.
When SLIM is operational again, scientists plan to use its camera, the only scientific instrument on board, to potentially search for a mineral called olivine in the Moon’s solidified mantle. The discovery of olivine compounds would be important because it could uncover new evidence to support the hypothesis that the Moon was once part of the Earth.
Race to the Moon
According to the Japanese, SLIM’s precision landing technology gives them an advantage over the US-led Artemis program. The Americans’ goal is to send man to the Moon again in 2026.
While SLIM will make Asia shine in the race for the new moon, it could in turn intensify competition between the region’s space powers. Now that India and Japan have the technology to softly land on the Moon, they are competing with China’s Chang’e-7 mission through the planned joint South Pole Lunar Exploration Mission (LUPEX). The Chinese also aim to land on the moon in 2026 and search for ice there.
SLIM is the second attempt to reach the Moon this year, after the failure of the United States. In February, the American Intuitive Machines wants to be the first private company to land on the Moon. China’s Chang’e-6 mission to collect samples from the far side of the Moon is also scheduled for 2024.
2024-01-23 12:51:00
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