When you buy through links on our website , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it influence .
A raw persona released by Japan ’s quad representation has revealed why its first moon lander has had problem shoot — despite draw the most exact touchdown in lunar history , the stricken craft land on its nose .
The Smart Lander for investigate Moon ( SLIM)arrived on the moon ’s surfaceon Friday ( Jan. 19 ) , stool Japan the fifth nation to land on the moon . But the cunning shut down three hour after arriver because of an nameless fault with its solar mobile phone .
An image taken by Sora-Q, an accompanying robot, shows Japan’s SLIM lander safely landed, but tipped on its nose.
Now , a new image taken by Sora - Q — a companion robot eject from the lander as it descended — has reveal the source of the trouble : sunlight is n’t reaching the spaceship ’s solar cells because the craft is tipped 90 grade from how it was designed to land .
" An abnormality in the main engine affected the landing mental attitude of the spacecraft , resulting in the solar venire currently being unable to appoint , " the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) spell in astatement on X , formerly Twitter , on Thursday ( Jan. 25 ) . " information was successfully downloaded , and the multi - band imagination tv camera tested before might was turned off to preserve the shelling . "
associate : Humanity ’s hereafter on the moon : Why Russia , India and other countries are rush to the lunar south pole
The place agency attributes the mishap to one of SLIM ’s two main pusher conk out during the blood line , make the spacecraft to tumble onto its olfactory organ .
— Geomagnetic storm sends 40 SpaceX satellites plump to Earth
— Out - of - dominance defunct NASA satellite will bankrupt into world
— Big lump of failed Russian rocket doss down to Earth as infinite debris
This mutilate an otherwise impressive descent : the trade , designed to showcase state - of - the - artistic production preciseness landing place technologies , touched down within a quarry of 328 metrical foot ( 100 meters ) . For demarcation , old landing zones are set up with widths of about 6 miles ( 10 kilometers ) .
JAXA is the fifth interior space office to make a soft landing on the moon , the first being the U.S. , followed by the former USSR , Chinaand India . SLIM land on the sharpness of a crater known as Shioli , a humble crater within the prominent Cyrillus crater located at the equator on the moon ’s approximate side .
To send the image back to mission control , Sora - Q relied upon a 2d comrade to SLIM , call the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 ( LEV-1 ) , which is equipped with an antenna and an additional television camera . After severally framing and snapping the exposure , Sora - Q transmitted them to LEV-1 , which sent them on to Earth — a feat which has pleased JAXA functionary back home .
And though SLIM may be powered down , it ’s not out for the numeration just yet . JAXA representative say they have Hope the lander will hibernate until the angle of the sun at its landing place spatial relation change , potentially enable it to return to life .
