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Washington, January 27 (IANS): NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has detected the Japanese Intelligent Moon Research Lander (SLIM) that landed on the lunar surface last week.
Japan is the fifth country to complete a soft landing on the lunar surface, after Russia, the United States, China and India.
SLIM of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began its journey to the Moon on September 6 together with XRISM, a powerful X-ray space telescope. SLIM, also known as “Moon Sniper” in Japanese, landed on the surface lunar at approximately 10:20 am EST (8:50 pm IST) on January 20.
Five days later, NASA’s LRO spacecraft passed over the landing site and photographed SLIM.
“LRO acquired the image at an altitude of approximately 50 miles (80 km). The bright streaks on the left side of the image are rocky material ejected from the nearby, relatively young Shioli Crater,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA images show the SLIM landing site before and after the probe landed.
One of the images is a composite that removes features that are the same in both the before and after landing images. In turn, it allows us to highlight the changes in the reflectance of the lunar surface, caused by the exhaust of the lander’s engine.
According to JAXA, SLIM achieved a precise landing 100 meters from the target, as planned.
However, the lander appears to be upside down and unable to generate power, said JAXA mission officials, who hope the probe can recharge when the moon enters daylight hours in the coming days.
“Analysis of data acquired before power was turned off confirmed that SLIM had reached the surface of the Moon approximately 55 meters east of the original landing site,” the agency said in a statement.
Additionally, JAXA noted that communication was established with the spacecraft after landing. However, solar cells do not currently generate power.
“Data analysis has shown that SLIM’s solar cells are currently facing west, suggesting that there is potential for power generation and therefore SLIM recovery as solar lighting conditions improve over time.” time,” he said.