Japan has a spectacular new photo to add to its space exploration scrapbook.
Japan’s SLIM spacecraft landed on the moon on January 19, making Japan the fifth country in history to successfully perform a soft touchdown on the moon. And a new photo provides visual evidence of that success, showing Slim resting on gray dirt.
The photo, released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Wednesday night, January 24, was taken by a ball-shaped robot called LEV-2 (“Lunar Rover 2”), also known as SORA-Q. It was one of two small probes that flew to the moon aboard SLIM.
“This makes SORA-Q the first Japanese robot to land on the moon and take photos,” said a representative from Takara Tomy, the Japanese toy company that developed LEV-2 with JAXA, Sony, and Doshisha University. Kintaro Toyama, chairman of the board of directors, said:said in statement (Japanese, translated by Google).
Mr. Toyama added, “This success is thanks to everyone involved and everyone who supported us as we chased our dreams together.” “Sincerely thank.”
Related: Mission to the moon: past, present and future
SLIM (short for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”) is a demonstration spacecraft designed to showcase the technology needed for ultra-precise planetary landings. It was launched in September last year along with an X-ray space telescope called XRISM and landed in low Earth orbit.
SLIM reached lunar orbit on Christmas Day and made its historic descent to the lunar surface on January 19th. But things didn’t go completely to plan that day. SLIM’s handlers were unable to confirm its status immediately after touchdown, and ultimately determined that the solar panels were not generating power.
A newly released photo shows why. SLIM came to rest above my head instead of in the desired direction. Therefore, the lander was not able to obtain sunlight as expected.
However, the fact that this photo reached mission control indicates that Bantam’s daughter ships, LEV-2 and LEV-1, deployed from the SLIM during the planned descent and successfully operated on the lunar surface. There is.
In the same statement, JAXA officials said, “This image was transmitted to the ground via LEV-1, and it was confirmed that the communication function between LEV-1 and LEV-2 is operating normally.”
“We also confirmed that LEV-2 was deformed from its spherical shape in storage, so it was successfully deployed and operated on the lunar surface after being released from SLIM.” (LEV-2, which is about the size of a tennis ball, was designed to go from spherical to half-spherical and crawl across the moon’s surface.)
On Monday (January 21), JAXA announced that SLIM remains alive on the lunar surface, albeit silent, and its handlers are preparing for a possible recovery of the lander.
The agency provided the new update at a press conference held in Japanese on Wednesday night (US West Coast time) (Thursday afternoon, January 25, Japan time). The mission team is holding out some hope for SLIM’s return, at least until February 1, when the sun sets over the spacecraft’s landing site. According to Down Johna lunar mission engineer at the Korea Aerospace Institute, live-tweeted Wednesday night’s press conference.
But whatever happens next, thanks to SLIM and its two little fellow travelers, Japan now has a veritable lunar surface.