A new cosmic power is rising. The Japanese did what Russia could not

After several days of waiting, the Japanese managed to establish contact with the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lander, which is located on the surface of the Moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on the night from Sunday to Monday that the device had started scientific activity and sent the first photos from the Earth’s natural satellite.

Long days of waiting. The Japanese lander finally spoke

The successful SLIM landing on the Moon occurred on January 20. The research device successfully landed in the lunar equator region, but contact with the lander was lost shortly after landing. Scientists were only able to detect that the device’s solar panels did not generate electricity. Communication with the lander was lost 2 hours and 37 minutes after landing, when the onboard batteries were already exhausted.

Attempts to regain radio communication for over a week ended in failure. Until now. JAXA reported that by changing the direction of sunlight, the lander’s photovoltaic panels began to generate energy, which allowed it to “wake up” the device. Shortly after that, mission controllers began conducting research, and the first photo taken by the lander itself on the surface of the Silver Globe was brought to Earth.

Analysis by the Japanese space agency shows that the problem was caused by an “uneven” landing of the device on the surface. As can be seen in the photograph (at the top of this text) taken by the LEV-2 miniature rover (which landed on the Moon with the SLIM lander) on January 25, the lander rests on the surface in an unnatural position, with its engines pointing upwards. This caused the solar panels to face west and not receive the sunlight necessary to produce energy.

The lander overturned, but the mission was still a huge success

Jak , shortly before touchdown, SLIM lost thrust in one of its two main engines, which most likely caused the lander to capsize on the surface. Still, JAXA described the landing as precise because the device “grounded” just 55 meters from its original target in one of the craters near the equator. Landing so close to the target is in most cases a huge challenge. JAXA added that the feat represents significant progress in its work on precision vision landing.

Japan thus became only the fifth country in history that managed to place a device on the surface of the Moon and start research activities. So far, only the Soviet Union, the USA, China and India have managed to achieve such a feat. However, attempts have never been made by the European Space Agency or individually by any of the countries of the Old Continent.

Unfortunately, the SLIM lander and the LEV-2 rover have little time to explore the lunar surface. Both devices were not adapted to survive the less than two-week long lunar night, which begins next Thursday. Due to the delay in establishing contact with controllers on Earth, the Japanese mission was unfortunately significantly shortened.