Japan’s space agency gives update on Moon mission as spacecraft encounters problems following landing

JAPAN’S SLIM moon lander has successfully touched down on the lunar surface – but officials fear all is not well.

Although the craft is in communication with earth it has encountered a technical problem that could jeopardise the mission.

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Time is running out as In the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) update given this evening officials revealed that the Solar generators on the craft are not working.

This means the craft is being powered entirely by batteries and will go silent once they run out of charge.

Engineers are currently prioritising activities.

They’ve turned off heaters and are pulling down pictures from the craft.

Despite the set back there is still hope as: “It’s always possible the solar cells have somehow become oriented in a way that prevents them from seeing the Sun,” according to the BBC.

Officials also revealed they believe a soft, precision landing was successful.

Data is still being gathered and another news conference next week.

Earlier today Amateur radio trackers are reported strong signals coming from the Moon in the frequencies expected from SLIM, according to the BBC.

Nasa’s Deep Space Network, which talks to spacecraft, is also indicating that it is receiving signals from Slim.

The spacecraft launched on September 6 last year, and had been swinging in the moon’s orbit since Christmas Day.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) took a slow-and-steady approach to SLIM’s journey to the lunar surface, opting for the more energy-efficient path.

This choice likely comes as a relief to JAXA after watching the fate of the US’ Peregrine one moon lander unfold.

The US lunar lander suffered a critical fuel leak just hours into its six-week journey.

Peregrine one, and all contents on-board, disintegrated on the spacecraft’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere last night.

Russia and India also took a faster approach with their respective moon landers, and while Russia’s spacecraft eventually crashed – India’s touchdown was a resounding success.

The SLIM probe – dubbed ‘Moon Sniper’ – has spent three weeks in orbit preparing for touchdown operations – which were seemingly completed 19 January 3:30pm GMT (10:30am ET).

JAXA had planned to land SLIM roughly 100metres from the Shioli Crater, on the near side of the moon.

Prior to landing, SLIM image scanned the area to ensure there were no obstacles or boulders before touching down.

The nation’s goal with its first moon landing was to demonstrate it has the technology necessary to make precise touchdowns.

Success would make Japan the fifth country to land on the moon, following the Soviet Union, the US, China and India last summer.

This was not Japan’s first attempt.

In November, the country attempted a lunar touchdown with its OMOTENASHI lander, as part of Nasa’s uncrewed Artemis one mission.

However, the mini probe failed to reach its destination.

Then in April last year, Japan’s ambitions of becoming the first country to commercially land on the moon were scuppered after contact was lost with the spacecraft.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk