Japan's Upside-down Moon Lander

2 weeks ago today Japan landed their first Moon lander but not quite as they intended , SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) suffered an anomaly with its main engine during descent which left the lander in an awkward position.


Aside from its position when the Sun rose following a 10 day wait SLIM was able to charge its batteries and is now doing the science it was sent to do albeit from a novel angle , SLIM was designed to last a Lunar day (29.5 Earth days) so when the Sun goes down so will topsy-turvy SLIM.

SLIM phoned home on Sunday (Jan. 28) and engineers quickly resumed operations, JAXA officials wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, automatically translated from Japanese by Google.

"We immediately started scientific observations with MBC, and have successfully obtained first light," read the JAXA statement, with "first light" referring to the first use of an instrument to take images. MBC, the Multi-Band Camera, is designed to scour the lunar surface for the composition of olivine through analyzing the light signatures, or spectra, of reflected sunlight, according to the Planetary Society.

Olivine could be a clue to early solar system formation of rocky worlds like our own. The mineral is one of the main parts of the Earth's mantle, and also tends to be concentrated in lunar locations "where the crust is relatively thin," states a 2010 paper in the journal Nature that includes JAXA participation. One of those zones is the moon's south pole, where NASA, Japan and a coalition of other nations under the U.S.-led Artemis Accords plan to send astronauts later in the 2020s.
www.space.com...

This is what the first 100 hours in Kerbal Space Program look like.

a reply to: gortex

Who took the picture?

originally posted by: underpass61
a reply to: gortex

Who took the picture?

If you read the article, it was photographed by EV-2, a tiny rover that travelled to the moon with the SLIM lander.

originally posted by: underpass61
a reply to: gortex

Who took the picture?

An alien named Alfred who is parked next to the lander. He will turn it over when Japan gives him a new Subaru Forester base for when he wants to vacation on earth. Negotiations are going on as we speak, Alfred does not want airbags or the auto-shut of feature.

Alfred does not want a sporty car, Foresters are almost invisible since they are not really fancy looking.

a reply to: gortex

It looks to be down in one piece. And the rover 'walked' away. I think that counts as a good landing.

a reply to: BeyondKnowledge3

The fact that it landed on its head certainly gets it marks for individuality.

This is so fake.

originally posted by: EmmanuelGoldstein
This is so fake.

Images and explanation.

Night time has fallen on the Moon and JAZA have put SLIM into sleep mode , they will try to awaken the lander in a couple of weeks when the Sun rises again but as SLIM wasn't built to survive the deep cold of the Lunar night chances are this final shot taken by SLIM before hibernation will be its last.

After completing operation from 1/30 ~ 1/31, #SLIM entered a two week dormancy period during the long lunar night 🌚. Although SLIM was not designed for the harsh lunar nights, we plan to try to operate again from mid-February, when the Sun will shine again on SLIM’s solar cells.

Last night (1/31 ~ 2/1) we sent a command to switch on #SLIM’s communicator again just in case, but with no response, we confirmed SLIM had entered a dormant state. This is the last scene of the Moon taken by SLIM before dusk.
www.space.com...

Despite face planting the Moon and not being built to survive the Lunar night SLIM surprised mission control once again by responding to the command JAXA sent it as a new day dawned on the Moon.

It went to sleep again as darkness returned and, since it was "not designed for the harsh lunar nights", JAXA had been uncertain whether it would reawaken.

"Yesterday we sent a command, to which SLIM responded," JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

"SLIM succeeded in surviving a night on the Moon's surface while maintaining its communication function!"

It said communications were "terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high".

But it added: "Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled."
www.sciencealert.com...

Success in the face of adversity , welcome back SLIM !

So if we got tiny rovers that can be Johnny on the spot and take pictures like this , Why is there no live cams set up.

I'm calling Bull .

a reply to: gortex

Magnificent explanation, information and documentation.

Japan's lander that wasn't built to survive a Lunar night has now survived 2 Lunar nights , faceplanting the Moon seems to be the way to go.

Last night, we received a response from #SLIM, confirming that the spacecraft made it through the lunar night for the second time! Since the sun was still high and the equipment was still hot, we only took some shots of the usual scenery with the navigation camera. #GoodAfterMoon
twitter.com... bbd07a1fb92a2b06635bdd952ebf05%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2Fjapan-slim-moon-lander-survives-second-lunar-night

But it probably won't last another night.

According to the acquired data, some temperature sensors and unused battery cells are starting to malfunction, but the majority of functions that survived the first lunar night was mantained even after the second lunar night!
twitter.com...

Or will it , third time's the charm SLIM.

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
I'm calling Bull .

I bet with you calling this bull you call a lot or real stuff bull...

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
I'm calling Bull .

I bet with you calling this bull you call a lot or real stuff bull...

So they just had a drone with a camera in the same area as their upside down rover ? Wasn't aware uber operated on the moon .

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher

So they just had a drone with a camera in the same area as their upside down rover ? Wasn't aware uber operated on the moon .

Think a little deeper.

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
I'm calling Bull .

I bet with you calling this bull you call a lot or real stuff bull...

So they just had a drone with a camera in the same area as their upside down rover ? Wasn't aware uber operated on the moon .

Yes , it was part of the mission.

SLIM, a relatively small spacecraft, measuring less than 9 feet (2.4 meters) across, will spend the next few months reaching lunar orbit. It will spend another month surveying its landing site inside the moon's Shioli Crater.

Assuming SLIM's descent goes as planned, LEV-2 will release from the lander at approximately 5 feet, 11 inches (1.8 meters) above the lunar surface, and begin rolling around to image SLIM's landing and the surrounding area. LEV-2's battery power is expected to last about two hours.

When the two halves of LEV-2 separate, they are able to function as legs and wheels to allow the tiny probe to move around. Nestled between the halves are two cameras and a stabilizer used to help LEV-2 navigate its surroundings. As it does, it will transmit its data back to Earth through LEV-1, a separate probe also aboard SLIM, which will operate in tandem with SLIM and LEV-2.
www.space.com...