Japan moon probe put to sleep again

Japan’s valiant moon lander was put to sleep once more after unexpectedly surviving its second ultra-chilly lengthy lunar evening, the space company stated Monday.

The Sensible Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)—dubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its touchdown precision—touched down in January, making Japan solely the fifth nation to realize a gentle lunar touchdown.

However the unmanned light-weight spacecraft, carrying a mini-rover that strikes like a turtle, landed at a wonky angle that left its solar panels dealing with the mistaken manner.

Defying pessimistic predictions, the probe was revived in late February as soon as the lunar evening—which lasts about 14 Earth days—ended.

Regardless of dealing with temperatures as little as -130 levels Celsius (-200 levels Fahrenheit), it repeated the feat final week and transmitted new pictures again to Earth.

On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) introduced the probe has been put again to sleep once more on Sunday.

“Throughout this operation, we primarily checked the standing of a number of gadgets by turning on switches and making use of hundreds,” JAXA stated on social media platform X.

“Though there are some malfunctions in some features of MBC, it nonetheless works, so we’re fastidiously checking its standing,” it stated, referring to the Multi-band Digital camera used to look at lunar rocks.

Some sorts of rocks across the lunar craters are thought to include materials from its mantle, which may give clues on how the moon was fashioned.

© 2024 AFP