Japan resumes contact with SLIM module that landed upside down on Moon

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has restored contact with Japan's first lunar module, SLIM. It resumed work for the first time since landing on January 20.

"Last night the connection with SLIM was successfully established and its operation resumed. Scientific observations began immediately," read a post on the SLIM page on the X social network.

After establishing the connection, the device took a picture with a special spectroscopic camera. JAXA published the photos obtained from the surface of the moon.

Japan's SLIM module was launched on September 7 on an H-IIA MHI launch vehicle along with the XRISM telescope from the Tanegashima Satellite Launch Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. SLIM landed on the Moon on January 20, but it turned upside down due to a problem with one of its engines during landing. As a result, the solar panels were on the opposite side of the sun and at that moment, they were not receiving energy to charge the battery and restart the device.

It was expected that parallel to the change in the position of the Moon, the rays of the Sun would gradually reach the solar panels of the device, and it would be able to charge. Apparently, that is exactly what happened, otherwise the device would not be able to operate due to lack of power.

After the USSR, the USA, China and India, Japan became the fifth country in the world, the module created by which landed on the surface of the Moon.

As part of this mission, two small probes, LEV-1 and LEV-2, were also landed on the Moon. It was the second of them to photograph the module from the side, turned upside down. It was created in collaboration with Sony and looks like a ball split in two halves.