JAs of Friday evening, apan's planned soft landing of the SLIM probe on the moon was successful, although there were difficulties with the power supply. The solar panel does not work and cannot charge the battery, it was said at a press conference with experts from the Japanese space agency JAXA.
The lander SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) would still communicate with the ground station, data would be received and data would come back to Earth. The battery capacity is expected to last for a few hours. Further findings can be expected with the evaluation of further data.
According to current knowledge, the solar panel was not damaged, it was said in the evening. It initially remained unclear whether there was an unfavorable alignment or other problems. On Monday we hope to have more information about the status of SLIM, said JAXA CEO Hiroshi Yamakawa.
Press conference on Friday evening with representatives of the Japanese space agency JAXA in Sagamihara near Tokyo, JAXA boss Hiroshi Yamakawa in the picture on the right.
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Image: AP
It cannot currently be said whether the unmanned landing at the 300-meter Shio crater took place as planned within a zone of 100 meters. This must be shown by the evaluation of further data. It is fairly certain that the two miniature robots LEV-1 and LEV-2 that were carried could still be disposed of.
SLIM has been on the road since September
If the status of a soft landing for the SLIM probe remains, Japan will be the fifth country after the USA, the former Soviet Union, China and India to have succeeded in a soft landing on Earth's satellite. SLIM launched from Japan's Tanegashima Cosmodrome on September 6, 2023 aboard a Japanese H2A carrier rocket and gradually approached the landing site in elliptical orbits. The landing maneuver took place from a height of 25 kilometers on Friday afternoon, 4 p.m. Central European Time. According to telemetric data, the probe touched down on the lunar surface at 4:22 p.m.
Last April, a private Japanese company failed in a similar mission. The reason given by the company Ispace was an incorrect altitude calculation of the lander. At the beginning of last week, the US company Astrobotic failed to put the “Peregrine” lander on the moon. It would have been the first private landing there ever.
The US mission started successfully, but then there were problems with the propulsion system. According to the operating company Astrobotic, contact with the capsule was lost on Thursday. Astrobotic said it probably crashed over the South Pacific and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, as planned in the event of the failure of the moon flight.
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