JAXA reconnects with SLIM lunar lander
The Japanese space agency JAXA has announced that it has restored communication with the SLIM lunar lander. Good news!
On January 19, 2024, the Japanese space agency’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) made a not-so-soft landing on the Moon. As it turned out later, SLIM lost one of its engines, flipped over and is lying upside down.
At the time, JAXA cautiously hoped that when the Sun moved to the lunar West, the solar panels would receive enough energy and SLIM would be able to recharge its batteries and get back in touch. And that’s exactly what happened. The device even sent back some new photos. In one of them, you can supposedly see the miniature LEV-2 lunar rover that had previously taken a picture of SLIM lying on the regolith.
As a reminder, today NASA showed SLIM image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) .