Japan’s robotic SLIM spacecraft landed on the lunar surface this morning, January 19, marking a great triumph for Japan.
This makes the Asian country the fifth to make a gentle landing on Earth’s nearest neighbour, the moon. Yamakawa Hiroshi, President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), stated during a post-landing press conference today:
“First and foremost, landing was successful. We should be able to access the lunar surface. I believe that there is a path opening to that now.”
However, after witnessing their Slim spacecraft successfully land on the Moon, engineers from the country’s space agency, Jaxa, instantly recognised all was not right.
The solar cells on the robot do not work for unknown reasons. This means that all surface functions are currently powered by SLIM’s batteries, and the lander’s life may be limited to a few hours.
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Officials are presently prioritising activities. They have shut off the heaters and are presently collecting images and data from the ship to determine how well the landing software worked.
If SLIM goes silent, the agency will not abandon it right away. It is always possible that the solar cells have become orientated in such a way that they cannot view the Sun.
When asked at a news conference what could be done to try to fix the solar cells, Hitoshi Kuninaka, Director-General of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and vice-president of JAXA, said: “The battery will last several more hours; those hours will be Slim’s remaining life,” but they are attempting to maintain the “status quo.”
Kuninaka stated that they do not want to do anything “excessive,” but there is still potential for SLIM to create electricity when the solar angle shifts.
He said; “The solar angle will change every month and the sunlight on the Moon will change. When the light from Earth shines from a different direction it could hit the solar cell, so we are considering this and we are hoping for SLIM to regain power.”
Last September, SLIM (short for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”) was launched alongside XRISM, an X-ray satellite telescope. The scope was placed into low Earth orbit shortly after launch (and recently returned its first test photographs), but SLIM headed off for more distant cosmic lands.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli
