Tokyo: The space agency announced on Monday that Japan’s Moon lander has resumed operations, signaling that power had been restored.
Following its January 20 landing, JAXA said that power was not being produced by the drone due to issues with its solar batteries.
On X, the previous Twitter, JAXA stated, “Last evening we succeeded in establishing communication with SLIM, and resumed operations.”
Referring to the lander’s multiband spectroscopic camera, “We immediately started scientific observations with MBC, and have successfully obtained first light for 10-band observation,” the statement read.
The agency shared a photo of the “toy poodle,” a rock that was seen close to the lander, taken by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on X.
Japan became the fifth country, following the US, the USSR, China, and India, to land softly on the moon with this accomplishment.
However, about three hours after landing, JAXA made the decision to turn off SLIM with 12 percent of its power left in order to preserve it for a potential restart in the event that the sun’s angle altered.
The lander touched down 55 meters from its target, fulfilling its objective of landing within 100 meters of it.
Compared to the typical landing zone range, which experts estimate to be several kilometers, that is far more accurate.
The Moon’s mantle, or the typically deep inner layer beneath its crust, is thought to be revealed on the surface of a crater that SLIM was targeting.
According to JAXA, two probes—one equipped with a transmitter and the other intended to roll over the lunar surface and broadcast photographs back to Earth—deployed successfully.
This slightly larger than a tennis ball, shape-shifting mini-rover was co-developed by the company that makes the Transformer toys.
Other nations attempting to reach the moon include South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Russia.
This month, after launch, the US company Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander started leaking fuel, which ended its mission.
The spacecraft probably burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on return, and contact was lost over a distant region of the South Pacific.
Plans for crewed lunar flights under NASA’s Artemis program have also been delayed.
Japan has attempted two unsuccessful lunar trips in the past, one of which was a private mission.
As part of the US Artemis 1 mission, the nation sent the Omotenashi lunar probe in 2022, although it was an unsuccessful mission.
Japanese startup ispace made a fruitless attempt to land on the moon in April, losing contact with its ship following what it called a “hard landing.”
