• The “Moon Sniper,” was the fifth nation in history to achieve a soft lunar touchdown.
• The mission team is hopeful that the situation could improve as lighting conditions shift.
• The mission control switched off the spacecraft at 02:57 on Saturday.

Japan’s space agency Jaxa states that it may still be possible to salvage its Moon lander, the Slim spacecraft, if sunlight hits it in the right place. Engineers turned off the Slim spacecraft just three hours after its historic lunar touchdown on Saturday to conserve power.

They had realized that its solar cells were pointing west, away from the Sun, making it unable to generate electricity. However, the mission team is now hopeful that the situation could improve as lighting conditions shift.

“If sunlight hits the Moon from the west in the future, we believe there’s a possibility of power generation, and we’re currently preparing for restoration,” the Jaxa statement read.

Moon Sniper:

The Slim mission, also nicknamed “Moon Sniper” for its use of precision-landing technologies, positioned Japan as only the fifth nation in history to achieve a soft lunar touchdown.

However, the initial joy of witnessing the craft’s controlled descent soon turned into concern as power levels drained away. The team decided to put the craft to sleep instead of allowing the system to go completely flat.

“The battery was disconnected according to our procedures with 12% power remaining, to avoid a situation where the restart (of the lander) would be hampered,” Jaxa said.

“As a result, the spacecraft was switched off at 02:57 (Saturday, Japan time, or 17:57 GMT, Friday).”

Mission control successfully gathered details of Slim’s predicament, as well as images and data about its descent to the lunar surface, before the shutdown.

“We’re relieved and beginning to get excited after confirming a lot of data has been obtained,” Jaxa said.

The agency promised updates throughout the week.

[embedpost slug=”japan-is-set-to-make-the-latest-attempt-to-land-on-the-moon/”]