{"id":610269,"date":"2024-02-26T11:05:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T08:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/japan-moon-lander-revives-after-lunar-night\/"},"modified":"2024-02-26T11:05:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T08:05:59","slug":"japan-moon-lander-revives-after-lunar-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/japan-moon-lander-revives-after-lunar-night\/","title":{"rendered":"#Japan Moon lander revives after lunar night"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Japan’s Moon lander has produced another surprise by waking up after the two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency said Monday.<\/p>\n


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The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.<\/p>\n

As the sun’s angle shifted, it came back to life for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a high-spec camera, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Yesterday we sent a command, to which SLIM responded,” JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter<\/a>, on Monday.<\/p>\n

“SLIM succeeded in surviving a night on the Moon’s surface while maintaining its communication function!”<\/p>\n

It said that communications were “terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high.”<\/p>\n

But it added, “Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled.”<\/p>\n

SLIM, dubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision landing technology<\/a>, touched down within its target landing zone on January 20.<\/p>\n

The feat was a win for Japan’s space program after a string of recent failures, making the nation only the fifth to achieve a “soft landing” on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.<\/p>\n

But during its descent, the craft suffered engine problems and ended up on its side, meaning the solar panels were facing west instead of up.<\/p>\n

The latest news<\/a> comes after JAXA toasted a successful blast-off for its new flagship H3 rocket on February 17, making it third time lucky after years of delays and two previous failed attempts.<\/p>\n

Countries including Russia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck to reach the Moon.<\/p>\n

The first American spaceship to the Moon since the Apollo era\u2014the uncrewed Odysseus lander built by a private company and funded by NASA\u2014landed near the lunar south pole on Thursday.<\/p>\n

But its maker said the US spacecraft is probably lying sideways following its dramatic landing, even as ground controllers work to download<\/a> data and surface photos from it.<\/p>\n

Private Japanese firm ispace also attempted to land on the Moon last year but the probe suffered a “hard landing” and contact was lost.<\/p>\n

\n \u00a9 2024 AFP\n <\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Japan Moon lander revives after lunar night (2024, February 26)
\n retrieved 26 February 2024
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2024-02-japan-moon-lander-revives-lunar.html<\/p>\n

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