Japan’s SLIM Lands on Lunar Surface, but a Problem in the Sun Panels Will Cut the Mission Dramatically Short
A bittersweet day for the Japanese Space Program, not exactly feeling ‘over the moon’ about the results of the day, but at least feeling like something historical indeed took place.
Japan just became the fifth country in history to soft-land on the moon’s surface when its spacecraft touched down early Saturday (Tokyo time).
However, a malfunction with the power supply means that the mission is in jeopardy.
Officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the unmanned spacecraft made the ‘pinpoint landing’ it aimed to do as the nickname ‘moon sniper’ revealed.
Associated Press reported:
“Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said they believe that rovers were launched and data were being transmitted back to Earth from the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon,
