Japan's SLIM aerospace module continues to amaze us with its viability and reliability. Initially intended only for a short-term run to the surface of the Moon, the module survived its second night and sent new pictures of its incredible journey.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported that the SLIM lander, which was not supposed to survive the extreme conditions of the lunar night, has reawakened after surviving its second night on the moon. If the first exit of the SLIM module from the dormant mode at the end of February was a surprise for scientists, then the second exit was an even bigger surprise. However, the module turned on and sent new pictures 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 that managed to carry out such a mission. But the landing of the Japanese module on January 19 was not quite smooth. It landed in such a position that it could not charge its batteries with sunlight. After only 10 days, the Sun was in such a position that the SLIM solar panels could 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 was turned off, as already written by Focus . The fact 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 managed to be "buried", that is, it unexpectedly came out of sleep mode and sent a signal to Earth. Soon after that, it also turned off. Scientists believed that it was already 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 pictures of the Moon's surface. But it is not yet known how long SLIM will be able to work, because its devices are already failing.
We remind you that JAXA gave the SLIM module the nickname "Moon Sniper" because of its ability to land as close as possible to the landing point. The device was able to land on the surface of the moon only 55 meters from its destination, while other similar devices land within a radius of several kilometers.
