Arriving on the Moon at the end of January, the Japanese SLIM lander is holding up. The machine survived its second lunar night, despite numerous obstacles.
Japan’s lunar lander is definitely full of surprises. Despite trying conditions on the Moon, SLIM (acronym for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, in French intelligent lander to investigate the Moon) is still operational. He even survived his second night on the natural satellite, which is no small feat.
The new was announced at the end of March by the Japanese space agency (Jaxa), on the social network We received a response from SLIM, confirming that the space vehicle passed through a lunar night for the second time! » Taking advantage of the opportunity, the agency asked SLIM to take some photos with the navigation camera.
The SLIM mission holds strong on the Moon
The least we can say is that SLIM is clinging to life. First, the machine was not supposed to survive on the Moon beyond a few days — but here we are at the end of March, while the device touched down on January 19. And above all, the machine was not designed to face a lunar night (which lasts two Earth weeks).
Because when the Sun sets on the satellite, temperatures plummet: the temperature differences that occur on the Moon are extreme. They can drop to -248°C and, when the star is high in the sky, rise to 123°C. For the electronics on board, these variations are difficult to cope with.
Then, above all, SLIM finds itself in an absolutely not ideal position to stay alive. SLIM indeed landed upside down. As a result, its solar panels, which are crucial for recovering energy, are poorly oriented. In fact, the lander finds itself with a limited recharge capacity.
The whole question now is how much longer the mission will be able to hold out. La Jaxa, in a second messagesuggests that the little lunar miracle might not last long: “ Based on the acquired data, some temperature sensors and unused battery cells are starting to malfunction. »
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