SLIM lunar lander briefly resumes operations
Posted: Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 9:37 AM ET (1437 GMT)
Japan's SLIM lunar lander resumed operations more than a week after landing. The Japanese space agency JAXA said Jan. 28 that the spacecraft had started to transmit again, nine days after landing. The spacecraft landed on its nose with its solar panels oriented away from the sun, causing the spacecraft to shut down hours after touchdown. The changing angle of the sun has now illuminated the solar panels, JAXA said, reviving the spacecraft and allowing some scientific operations to resume, including imaging of a nearby rock dubbed "toy poodle". SLIM operated for only a few days, until the sun set at its landing site; the spacecraft is not designed to survive the two-week lunar night.
Japan's SLIM lunar lander resumed operations more than a week after landing. The Japanese space agency JAXA said Jan. 28 that the spacecraft had started to transmit again, nine days after landing. The spacecraft landed on its nose with its solar panels oriented away from the sun, causing the spacecraft to shut down hours after touchdown. The changing angle of the sun has now illuminated the solar panels, JAXA said, reviving the spacecraft and allowing some scientific operations to resume, including imaging of a nearby rock dubbed "toy poodle". SLIM operated for only a few days, until the sun set at its landing site; the spacecraft is not designed to survive the two-week lunar night.
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