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Japan’s worthy moon lander was put to sleep once again after suddenly enduring its 2nd ultra-chilly long lunar night, the area company stated Monday.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)– called the “Moon Sniper” for its landing accuracy– touched down in January, making Japan just the 5th country to attain a soft lunar landing.
The unmanned light-weight spacecraft, bring a mini-rover that moves like a turtle, landed at a wonky angle that left its solar panels dealing with the incorrect method.
Defying downhearted forecasts, the probe was restored in late February once the lunar night– which lasts about 14 Earth days– ended.
Regardless of dealing with temperature levels as low as -130 degrees Celsius (-200 degrees Fahrenheit), it duplicated the task recently and sent brand-new images back to Earth.
On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) revealed the probe has actually been returned to sleep once again on Sunday.
“During this operation, we primarily examined the status of numerous gadgets by switching on switches and using loads,” JAXA stated on social networks platform X.
“Although there are some breakdowns in some functions of MBC, it still works, so we are thoroughly examining its status,” it stated, describing the Multi-band Camera utilized to analyze lunar rocks.
Some kinds of rocks around the lunar craters are believed to consist of product from its mantle, which might provide hints on how the moon was formed.
© 2024 AFP
Citation: Japan moon probe put to sleep once again (2024, April 1) recovered 18 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-04-japan-moon-probe.html
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