The Japanese SLIM spacecraft landed on the moon, but upside down
After the Japanese space agency JAXA became the fifth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, its scientists discovered that it landed upside down after all. Japan's SLIM spacecraft – which stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon – landed on the moon on January 20, but it was known that it could have major problems due to difficulties with power generation just hours after landing, which it eventually did .
SLIM landed about 55 meters east of the original target landing site, JAXA said, adding that it had received all technical information about navigation before landing and final stationing on the lunar surface.
JAXA was able to take the photos with the help of the SLIM spacecraft and a fully autonomous robot called The Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 that is currently exploring the Moon.
In any case, the cause of the spacecraft's engine failure is under investigation by the space agency, and there is even a small chance of regeneration since the solar panels that power SLIM are facing west. This means that there is a chance for the spacecraft to recover if enough light from the sun reaches the panels as time goes on.
JAXAThe JAXA agency team wrote earlier this week on the social network Twitter (X) to “prepare for recovery”. The agency claims that it will undertake the necessary preparations in order to be able to collect more technical and scientific data from the spacecraft.