Japan’s SLIM probe lost a thruster and landed upside-down on the moon, but it still woke up and started sending pictures to Earth.
BUSINESS INSIDER
Even though one of its two main thrusters failed, causing the spacecraft to tumble as it descended, SLIM still landed within 180 feet of its target spot on the edge of the moon’s Shioli crater.
The touchdown was so precise that officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have nicknamed the probe their “moon sniper.”
There was one big problem, though: The robot landed upside-down. That angled its solar panels away from the sun, preventing it from generating energy. Within a few hours after its historic landing, the spacecraft dropped out of communications with Earth.
But before that, it was able to deploy two tiny rovers, one of which snapped a photo of SLIM belly-up on the moon.
Miraculously, though, SLIM came back to life this weekend.
JAXA’s resurrection on the moon
“Communication with SLIM was successfully established last night, and operations resumed!” the JAXA SLIM team posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.
Reuters reported that this was likely because the sunlight had changed direction.
JAXA said it had “immediately” started science operations with SLIM, imaging rocks in the area.
Perhaps JAXA’s biggest goal for this mission was to test its precision-landing technologies, which will be needed as nations flock to the cratered south pole and far side of the moon, where critical resources such as water could be mined.
