Japanese lunar module SLIM put into sleep mode until May – Kommersant

The Japanese Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) module located on the Moon has been put into sleep mode until the end of April, a Japanese newspaper reported. Yomiuri Shimbun with reference to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The agency reported that on March 30, the module fell into the shadows, which prevented the device from charging its solar panels.

The first Japanese module landed on the Moon on January 20, but the operation of the device was interrupted several times due to unstable energy supply. The module’s operation was restored for the first time on January 29 due to a change in the angle of incidence of the sun’s rays. The work of the lunar rover was stopped for the second time on February 1 and resumed on February 26. On March 1, JAXA experts put the device back into sleep mode and restored operation on March 28. Despite prolonged outages, the lunar rover was able to complete two night missions.

The 2.4 m tall, 200 kg SLIM rover is used to study the Moon’s craters, topography and soil using technology similar to facial recognition. A special camera equipped with the device is capable of measuring the content of iron and other elements in rocks on the lunar surface. The data that the module will collect is planned to be used, among other things, in the US Artemis lunar program.

Alexandra Goroshilova