A Japanese probe succeeds in landing on the moon after overcoming an engine malfunction

according to El Paisthe Japanese Space Agency (JAXA)On Monday, January 29, he confirmed that The Japanese SLIM probe made Japan the fifth country in the world to successfully land on the moon.

Hey Moderate build Landed (Intelligent Lunar Exploration Lander). Earth's natural moon 00:20 local time on January 20 in Tokyo, (15:20 on the 19th in mainland Portugal), after A descent that turned out to be hecticThe probe lost one of its engines.

spaceship I managed to establish contact with the Earth After landing, it was unable to generate energy from its solar cells, as its behavior during landing was not as expected Its panels face westa problem that has since been resolved.

According to the Japanese Space Agency, communications with the probe began on Sunday evening The module is already exploring the lunar surface.

Sound probe

The image provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Thursday was taken by The LEV-2 robot is the size of a tennis ballWhich SLIM launched to the lunar surface before landing.

Show this picture Fatal outcome of the activity Which he intended to implement on the moon. The unit fell into a pit slope and tilted to the west due to the rollover.So the solar panels could not generate electricity.

Only a change in the direction of sunlight can activate it Before the next lunar night, which begins on February 1, the ship freezes over.

“SLIM IS NOT DESIGNED TO SURVIVE A MOONNIGHT”
Shinichiro Sakai, in charge of the unit.

Without power, the unit's advanced camera can only do so I was able to generate low resolution images During the two and a half hours that the ship was operating.

During this time also It sent telemetry data that allowed engineers to understand what happened And you are relatively satisfied with the result.

One of the main engines failedBut they were still able to land the plane accurately. Only 55 meters from your target.

SLIM's main goal was to make a precision landing within a 100-meter radius around Shiuli crater, near the lunar equator, as it also intends to do. Analyzing the rocks in the area to try to clarify the mystery of the possibility of water on the moonIt is a major factor in ultimately building human bases in the region.

Landing on the moon in the twenty-first century

Conventional lunar landings currently contain A margin of several kilometersWhile this unit was able to land 55 meters from the target.

So far, in In the 21st century, only three countries have managed to achieve a soft landing on the moon: China three times, India last August, and Japan on Friday. In the same years, special missions from the United States, Japan, and Israel, and a spacecraft sent by Russia, failed to land on the satellite.