Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ lunar lander rouses from its 9-day sleep after wonky touchdown

Name: Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ rover lands, but may die in matter of hours
Uploaded: 2024-01-29T07:24:04.000Z
Duration: 2 min 9 s
Description: Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ rover lands, but may die in matter of hours

The lander’s January 20 touchdown made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a ‘soft landing’ on the Moon after the US, Soviet Union, China and India

But it suffered engine problems on the descent, making it uncertain if its solar panels would still get enough sunlight to function

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Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, is seen in this image taken by a lunar excursion vehicle earlier this month. Photo: JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University via AP

Agence France-Presse

Published: 3:24pm, 29 Jan 2024

Japan’s Moon lander has come back to life, the space agency said on Monday, enabling the craft to proceed with its mission of investigating the lunar surface despite its rocky start.

The surprise announcement was a boost to Japan’s space programme, nine days after the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.

“Last evening we succeeded in establishing communication with SLIM, and resumed operations!” JAXA said on social media platform X, posting a grainy image of a lunar rock known as “toy poodle”.

02:09

Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ rover lands, but may die in matter of hours

“We immediately started scientific observations with MBC, and have successfully obtained first light for 10-band observation,” it said, referring to the lander’s multiband spectroscopic camera.

SLIM’s January 20 touchdown made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a “soft landing” on the Moon after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.

But on its descent, dubbed the “20 minutes of terror”, the craft suffered engine problems and ended up at a skewed angle, images released by JAXA showed.

This meant the solar panels were facing west instead of up, and it was uncertain if they would still get enough sunlight to function.

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Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ lunar lander rouses from its 9-day sleep after wonky touchdown

The lander’s January 20 touchdown made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a ‘soft landing’ on the Moon after the US, Soviet Union, China and India But it suffered engine problems on the descent, making it uncertain if its solar panels would still get enough sunlight to function

The lander’s January 20 touchdown made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a ‘soft landing’ on the Moon after the US, Soviet Union, China and India

But it suffered engine problems on the descent, making it uncertain if its solar panels would still get enough sunlight to function