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Japan’s Moon lander has produced another surprise by waking up after the two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency said Monday.<\/p>\n The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.<\/p>\n As the sun’s angle shifted, it came back to life for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a high-spec camera, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.<\/p>\n It went to sleep again as darkness returned and, since it was “not designed for the harsh lunar nights”, JAXA had been uncertain whether it would reawaken.<\/p>\n “Yesterday we sent a command, to which SLIM responded,” JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.<\/p>\n “SLIM succeeded in surviving a night on the Moon’s surface while maintaining its communication function!”<\/p>\n It said that communications were “terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high.”<\/p>\n But it added, “Preparations are being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled.”<\/p>\n SLIM, dubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision landing technology, touched down within its target landing zone on January 20.<\/p>\n The feat was a win for Japan’s space program after a string of recent failures, making the nation only the fifth to achieve a “soft landing” on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.<\/p>\n But during its descent, the craft suffered engine problems and ended up on its side, meaning the solar panels were facing west instead of up.<\/p>\n The latest news comes after JAXA toasted a successful blast-off for its new flagship H3 rocket on February 17, making it third time lucky after years of delays and two previous failed attempts.<\/p>\n Countries including Russia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck to reach the Moon.<\/p>\n The first American spaceship to the Moon since the Apollo era\u2014the uncrewed Odysseus lander built by a private company and funded by NASA\u2014landed near the lunar south pole on Thursday.<\/p>\n But its maker said the US spacecraft is probably lying sideways following its dramatic landing, even as ground controllers work to download data and surface photos from it.<\/p>\n Private Japanese firm ispace also attempted to land on the Moon last year but the probe suffered a “hard landing” and contact was lost.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u00a9 2024 AFP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCitation<\/strong>: \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJapan Moon lander revives after lunar night (2024, February 26)
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