Japan's Lunar Probe SLIM Communication Attempt Given Up

TapTechNews May 28th, it is reported by Asahi Shimbun that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on the 28th that it has given up trying to restore communication with the lunar probe SLIM that landed on the moon in January. The probe has already experienced three extremely cold nights with a temperature as low as minus 170 degrees Celsius and is currently in a 'dormant state', and the equipment it carries may have been damaged.

The SLIM probe successfully achieved a precise landing within 100 meters of error on the lunar surface at 0:20 Tokyo time on January 20 (TapTechNews note: 23:20 Beijing time on January 19). According to JAXA, SLIM entered the dormant state after the third moonlit night on April 23. It was expected that sunlight would shine on the solar panel and restore power at around the end of last weekend, but communication has not been restored yet.

JAXA said that it is not clear whether there is a problem with the equipment or it is affected by the solar flare outbreak in early May. According to JAXA, after four months of landing, the service life of most of the equipment of the detector has exceeded its design expectations.

However, JAXA said there is still hope of restoring communication, and they will try to restart the detector at the end of next month when its solar panel will be exposed to sunlight again.