SLIM, Japan’s lunar module, enters the night. The Sun sets at its landing site. Jaxa must wait 2 weeks to find out if its mission will survive the extreme conditions of nighttime on the Moon.
The awakening of SLIM, the Japanese space module placed on the Moon, did not last very long. While its activities had only just resumed, after a period of uncertainty about its condition, the lander of the Japanese space agency (Jaxa) now finds itself plunged into darkness.
Lunar night has arrived at the SLIM landing site, has warned on January 31, 2024 AMSAT, an association of radio amateurs responsible for maintaining experimental satellites. The Sun set on the area of the Moon where SLIM was stranded, upside down.
Communications are therefore interrupted, SLIM having to go into standby, because its energy reserves are insufficient. “ Farewell, maybe we’ll see each other at the next sunrise…”, writes AMSAT on X (formerly Twitter).
The SLIM mission alone facing the freezing cold of the lunar night
It is a long lunar night lasting 2 weeks who is waiting for SLIM. All that remains is for the Japanese team responsible for the mission to wait to find out if the machine will have survived. During this period, the mission will have to face extreme conditions. Shinsuke Abe, doctor of astronomy and professor at Nihon University (Tokyo), explain on X that SLIM will experience temperatures around -130° C and that it is likely that the mission will end plunged into eternal sleep “.
The fate of SLIM is reminiscent of the Indian mission Chandrayaan-3, which landed on the Moon in August 2023. After a successful mission, Chandrayaan-3 ended up falling asleep on the Moon after 2 weeks of activity. The survival of the Indian probe, plunged into the lunar night, seemed unlikely. At the end of its freezing night on the Moon, Chandrayaan-3 no longer gave any sign of life. See you in two weeks to find out if SLIM will complete its mission in the same way.
Subscribe for free to Artificielles, our newsletter on AI, designed by AIs, verified by Numerama!