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Even though we haven’t put human beings on the moon in over 50 years, several space agencies are attempting to explore the lunar surface with landers and robotic probes. It’s a small club of nations that have landed something on the moon, and Japan recently became the fifth nation, joining the U.S., China, India, and the Soviet Union.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its SLIM lander (short for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”), and SLIM landed only about 60 yards from its target on Jan. 20, but there was one slight problem. SLIM landed upside down.
The mission was a risky one from the start. Most agencies aim to place landers on flat, smooth areas, but JAXA was hoping to land SLIM in an area between two craters. The rocky landing site likely played a role in SLIM’s rough landing.
JAXA used SLIM’s battery power to determine that it landed where it was supposed to and take a few pictures of the lunar surface. Then JAXA turned SLIM off and waited patiently to see if it would be able to function.
“Based on this landscape image, the team is sorting out rocks of interest, assigning a nickname to each of them, with [the] intent of communicating their relative sizes smoothly by the names,” read part of a statement from JAXA.
