Tokyo, Feb14 (EFE).- The Japanese Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which successfully landed on the Moon on Jan. 20 and is currently in a state of hibernation, will attempt to restart in late February, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Wednesday.
“Although the SLIM landing module is not designed to survive lunar night conditions, we will try to reestablish communication to attempt various operations, including a new observation,” JAXA’s SLIM project manager, Shinichiro Sakai, said during a press conference.
The Japanese spacecraft, which achieved an unprecedented “high-precision” landing, made Japan the fifth country in the world to successfully land on the Moon.
Despite a smooth landing, the device lost one of its two engines during its 20-minute descent mission and then its battery suddenly decreased to 55 percent, according to new details.
After landing, the device established communication with Earth, but was unable to generate energy from its solar cells because the development during landing was not as planned and its s were oriented towards the west, a problem that was later resolved.
The main objective of the Japanese spacecraft was to achieve a high-precision landing within a 100-meter radius around the Shioli crater, near the lunar equator, marking a significant advancement compared to conventional lunar landings, which typically have a margin of several kilometers.
However, the SLIM module managed to land approximately 55 meters from the target.
During its observation mission on the lunar surface, SLIM successfully captured and transmitted images of at least ten rocks back to Earth, utilizing its Multiband Spectroscopic Camera.
Japanese scientists have begun the analysis of these rocks to determine their mineral composition.
Shinichiro emphasized that determining the levels of magnesium and iron in the lunar rocks and comparing them with Earth’s composition would contribute to advancing research on the origin of the Moon and its potential exploration.
He said that the mission team plans to conduct “similar observations” if the module successfully restarts later this month. EFE
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