New photos straight from the lunar star. The Japanese SLIM probe has transmitted new images of the Moon after surviving the freezing temperatures of its second lunar night, which is equivalent to two Earth weeks, the Japanese space agency (Jaxa) announced on Thursday. The device made a historic moon landing for Japan at the end of January.
“We received a response from SLIM last night, confirming that the spacecraft had successfully passed the lunar night for the second time,” rejoiced Jaxa on the X account dedicated to its module. “As the sun was still high in the sky last night and the equipment was still warm, we only took a few photos of the usual scenery with the navigation camera,” Jaxa added. The agency also posted a black and white photo of the rocky surface of a lunar crater taken by its probe.
Last night, we received a response from #SLIM, confirming that the spacecraft made it through the lunar night for the second time! Since the sun was still high and the equipment was still hot, we only took some shots of the usual scenery with the navigation camera. #GoodAfterMoon pic.twitter.com/5BjIr7vxMG
— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) March 28, 2024
According to the agency, the data collected also shows that some temperature sensors and some battery cells of SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) are starting to fail, but the main functions seem to be holding up.
This is the third awakening in total for the probe, which made a very high precision moon landing on January 20, making Japan the fifth country to successfully land on the Earth's natural satellite after the United States. the USSR, China and India.
“Clarifying the mystery of the origin of the Moon”
However, due to a motor problem in the last tens of meters of its descent, SLIM landed at an angle, depriving its west-facing photovoltaic cells of sunlight. After an initial period of inactivity of around ten days and a first awakening, the probe was placed in hibernation and survived its first lunar night, before being put back into sleep at the beginning of March.
SLIM landed in a small crater less than 300 meters in diameter, called Shioli. Before being turned off, the machine was able to land its two mini-rovers normally, supposed to carry out analyzes of rocks coming from the internal structure of the Moon, the lunar mantle, which is still very poorly understood.
The Japanese agency had already shared several photos taken by the probe in recent weeks. At the end of February, it published a clearer image of the surface of the Moon, on which were outlined “distant and characteristic craters, arranged in a cross, as well as other clearly visible elements”.
法カメラから非圧縮で画像をダウンロードしました。遠方の特徴的な十字に並ぶクレーターなどがはっきり見えます。機器の温度を見つつ慎重に運用内容を検討し作業を進めています。 pic.twitter. com/jG8YfTlwWt
— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) February 28, 2024
At the beginning of March, when the probe went into sleep, she also shared a photo of the lunar star, this time at sunset over the Shioli crater.
On March 1 at 3am JST, the sun set on the Shioli Crater and #SLIM re-entered a period of dormancy. Although the probability of a failure increases with the repeated severe temperature cycles, SLIM operation will attempt to resume when the sun rises (late March). #GoodAfterMoon pic.twitter.com/RHxNX1cmBF
— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) March 2, 2024
Thanks to an “autofocus function”, SLIM’s multiband spectroscopic camera makes it possible to “measure the distance” with the photographed rocks, to then be able to calculate their size, explains Jaxa on its site. “Based on the large amount of data obtained, analyzes are underway to identify rocks and estimate the chemical composition of minerals, which could unravel the mystery of the origin of the Moon,” she explained. . “The scientific results” of these analyzes will be published as soon as possible.
Also read: United States, Europe, China… Who will be the first to set foot on the Moon again?
Another probe, Odysseus, sent by the private American company Intuitive Machines, managed to land on the Moon at the end of February, also askew. But it has definitely gone out, the firm announced last Saturday, which initially hoped to reactivate it after the lunar night. The device was until then the probe having landed furthest south on the Moon, an area which includes water in the form of ice and which is therefore of particular interest to the great powers.
NASA ultimately wishes to resume manned flights to the Moon, as part of its Artemis program. More than 50 years after the first steps of humans on the Moon, those of the Americans in 1969, it has once again become the subject of a global race.