Japan Takes Another Shot at the Moon

[Yazata]

And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.

JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.

[geordief]

And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.

JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.

Was that lunar nighttime period  always going to present   an uncertainty  for the power ,regardless of the problems they have had with  the alignment of the solar  panels?

[C C]

And after just a few days of operation, SLIM has entered hibernation mode. This is due to the lunar sunset leaving SLIM in nighttime darkness.

JAXA isn't sure whether SLIM will survive the extreme cold of a lunar night. But they say that they will try to wake up SLIM after lunar sunrise in a couple of weeks.

Was that lunar nighttime period always going to present an uncertainty for the power, regardless of the problems they have had with the alignment of the solar panels?

That seems to be the case (if it had landed properly). An original mission account of it back in September, after the launch, states that SLIM's activities were planned to close at the start of that interval: "A stretch goal for SLIM is to conduct operations until lunar sunset. Lunar daylight at a given location lasts around 14 Earth days, and once the sun sets, the lunar surface can reach a temperature of minus 130 degrees Celsius."

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/09/xrism-slim/

[Yazata]

Speaking of lunar landers resting on their sides...

JAXA says:

"Last night, a command was sent to #SLIM and a response received, confirming that the spacecraft has made it through the lunar night and maintained communication capabilities!"

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/176...9237732355

They add:

"Communication with #SLIM was terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high. Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled."

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/176...2075890085

Additional Japanese language posts add:

"Moon nights were cold, but moon days were extremely hot. When we communicated with Earth last night, the temperature of some of our equipment was already over 100 ℃ . I didn't expect temperatures to be this high, but it's amazing that space electronics still work!"

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/176...5746340891

and...

"However, if we continue to communicate, things will get even hotter, so yesterday I decided to communicate for a while and then take a break again."

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/176...4949562471

I'm strangely pleased to see that the Japanese language JAXA posts anthropomorphize SLIM, just like I did with Ingenuity!

Japan wouldn't be the same without anime, so... (I mean, how cute is this??)

[Image: GHPLocIasAE9xaz?format=png&name=900x900]

[Image: GHPkzz-W8AA5emN?format=jpg&name=medium]

[Yazata]

Another lunar night has concluded and Japanese engineers at JAXA were frankly surprised that SLIM is still alive and responsive. Like last time, it's getting too hot in the direct sunlight, which it needs to power its solar cell. But it managed to send back some photos:

Jaxa photo

[Image: GJuJtlGbQAAFGP6?format=jpg&name=large]

I guess since the Moon is merely a moon and not a planet, they decided to complete it in black-and-white instead of color. Looking at photos taken on the Moon is like watching an old 1950's TV show.

[Yazata]

JAXA has just announced that SLIM has survived yet another lunar night, has reawakened on command and is downloading data.

This little upside-down lander has proven to be a determined survivor.

JAXA says:

"Last night (the night of April 23rd), we were able to successfully communicate with #SLIM which had started up again, and confirmed that SLIM had survived for the third time. Here is a photo of the surface of the moon taken last night with the navigation camera. As this photo was taken at the earliest age of the moon so far after the overnight awakening, the moon is bright overall and the shadows are very short."

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/178...6752848056

[Image: GL5VUo9bkAAtEWz?format=jpg&name=small]

nsNS