Japan's first lunar lander has survived a third frigid lunar night, Japan's space agency said Wednesday after receiving an image of the device three months after it landed on the moon.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the lunar probe responded to a signal from Earth on Tuesday evening, confirming that it survived another weeks-long lunar night.
Temperatures can drop to minus 170 degrees Celsius (minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit) on a lunar night, and rise to about 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) on a Monday.
The probe, Smart Lander for Investing Moon, or SLIM, reached the lunar surface on January 20, making Japan the fifth country to successfully land a probe on the moon. SLIM ended up the wrong way up on January 20 because its solar panels initially couldn't see the sun and had to be turned off within hours, only to be turned back on eight days later as the sun rose.
SLIM, whose mission was to test Japanese landing technology and collect geological data and images, was not designed to survive lunar nights.
JAXA said on social media platform The agency said it plans to closely monitor the lander's deterioration.
Scientists hope to find clues about the moon's origins by comparing the mineral composition of moon rocks and those of Earth.
SLIM's message came days after NASA restored contact with Voyager 1, Earth's furthest space probe, which had been sending garbled data back to Earth for months.
A US lunar probe developed by a private space company announced the end of its operation a month after landing in February, while an Indian lunar lander failed to establish communications after landing in 2023.
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Published: Apr 24, 2024 2:16 PM IST