Japan's SLIM aerospace module continues to amaze us with its survivability and reliability. Originally designed for a short-term run to the lunar surface, the module has survived its second night and sent back new images of its incredible journey.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported that the SLIM lander, which was not supposed to withstand the extreme conditions of the lunar night, woke up again, having survived the second night on the Moon. If the first exit of the SLIM module from sleep mode in late February was unexpected for scientists, then the second exit was an even greater surprise. However, the module turned on and sent new images of the lunar surface to Earth, writes Phys.
Thanks to the successful landing of the SLIM module on the Moon, Japan became the fifth country on the planet to have managed to carry out such a mission. But the landing of the Japanese module on January 19 was not entirely smooth. It landed in such a position that it could not charge its batteries with sunlight. Only after 10 days did the Sun find itself in such a position that the SLIM solar panels were able to receive the required amount of light. As a result, the module was able to study the Moon for only a few days, after which it turned off, as Focus . The thing is that SLIM was not designed to withstand the extreme conditions of a cold night on the Moon, which lasts more than two Earth weeks.
But at the end of February, SLIM unexpectedly “resurrected”, although it had already been “buried”, that is, it unexpectedly came out of sleep mode and sent a signal to Earth. After that, it also turned off shortly after. Scientists believed that this was forever.
And on the evening of March 27, a real surprise for Japanese scientists was the awakening of the SLIM module, which, as it turned out, was able to survive the second lunar night. The lander notified scientists of its awakening by sending another signal to Earth, as well as new images of the lunar surface. But it is not yet known how long SLIM will be able to work, because its instruments are already failing.
As a reminder, JAXA nicknamed the SLIM module “Lunar Sniper” because of its ability to land as close as possible to its landing point. The device was able to land on the lunar surface just 55 meters from its destination, while other similar devices land within a radius of several kilometers.
