Unexpectedly, Japan’s SLIM Moon Probe Makes it Through Lunar Night

More than a month after the spacecraft’s historic “pinpoint” landing on the moon, Japan’s space agency announced on Monday that its SLIM moon lander had miraculously survived a chilly lunar night and had resumed contact with Earth.

Japan is now the fifth nation to send a probe to the moon, having landed the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) last month. Odysseus from Intuitive Machines, located in the United States, did likewise last week as nations and corporations raced to the moon in pursuit of riches and human habitability.

SLIM ran out of power shortly after landing near its objective, which was located just south of the moon’s equator, at a distance of 55 meters (180 feet), due to a tipping over and misaligned solar panels.

After over a week, the solar panels were able to produce electricity again because of a shift in the direction of the sun. The probe was not intended to survive a lunar night, according to the agency in charge of operating it, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.