- January 27, 2024
Nasa Spots Japan’s Lunar Lander on the Moon | – Times of India
The images, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at an altitude of about 80 kilometers before and after the landing, show a slight change in reflectance around the lander due to engine exhaust sweeping the surface, Nasa said.
On January 19, Japan became only the fifth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. The explorer touched down around 55 metres from its target site, accomplishing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s mission to showcase its ‘pinpoint’ landing technology.
Though the landing was done with unprecedented precision, the craft tilted at an unintended angle resulting in the solar panels not being able to generate any power.
Jaxa said the unexpected orientation may have resulted from one of the two main engines losing thrust at an altitude of 50 metres above the surface, adding power generation could start once the west side of the Moon becomes exposed to sunlight.
Images taken by probe
Slim also managed to deploy a palm-sized robot named SORA-Q shortly before landing, and Jaxa said it has successfully taken an image of Slim tilting over on the Moon’s surface.
The newly released photos show Slim came to rest on its head, which was not the desired orientation. So the lander hasn’t been able to harvest sunlight as expected.
But the fact that the photo made it down to mission control shows that its mini probes — LEV-2 and LEV-1 — deployed from Slim during the descent as planned and operated successfully on the lunar surface.
“This image [of lander on its head] was transferred to the ground via LEV-1, and it was confirmed that the communication function between LEV-1 and LEV-2 was operating normally,” Jaxa officials wrote in a statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
