India’s Chandrayaan-3 created history last year by landing on the south pole of the Moon.
After this, this year Japan’s Chandrayaan also successfully landed on the moon.
Now Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has informed that its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has become inactive, that is, now Japan’s Chandrayaan has slept on the Moon.
In fact, it is now night at the crater where the Japanese spacecraft landed. Before sleeping, Chandrayaan has sent a wonderful photo of the Moon, which is believed to be its last.
The SLIM spacecraft, short for Smart Lander for Moon Investigation, captured this image with its onboard camera on February 1.
In this photo, a shadow is visible on the slopes of Shioli Crater. SLIM’s
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency released this photo three days after re-establishing contact with SLIM.
The team shut down the robotic spacecraft on January 20 to conserve power, which accidentally landed upside down during landing.
Since the spacecraft’s solar panels were not oriented at that time, the lander was unable to generate electricity.
After some initial disappointment, Japanese scientists hoped that after a few days the angle of the Sun would change, so that their lander could wake up after charging again.
After nine days this happened and SLIM woke up. At the same time, since last Monday, the spacecraft has analyzed the rocks around the crater with a multi-band spectral camera.
JAXA chose the landing site because it could tell scientists about the moon’s formation.
SLIM’s
Space agency JAXA will now have to wait for a nearly 14.5-Earth-day long lunar night, which will begin around February 15, before reviving the Japanese spacecraft.
Not only this, the agency will also have to wait for favorable light and temperature conditions. To reactivate, the electronics must withstand lunar temperatures of approximately minus 130 degrees Celsius.
However, the goal for which Japan’s spacecraft was sent to the moon has achieved that much time and goal.