Tokyo, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Feb. 26 that the small lunar probe Slim, which had been dormant for nearly a month, briefly resumed communication with the ground on the evening of Feb. 25.
The Slim project team updated information on the social ** platform X on the 26th, saying that they tried to send instructions to Slim on the evening of the 25th and received a reply. Slim managed to survive the harsh nights on the surface of the moon while maintaining communication capabilities.
The team said that it was noon on the moon when the communication was carried out on the night of the 25th, and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high, and if the communication continued, the temperature of the equipment would continue to rise, so the probe was stopped after a short period of communication. Preparations are still underway to get back to work once the temperature of the detector has dropped sufficiently.
On January 31, the Slim team sent a command to power on the probe's communications device, but the probe did not respond, confirming that it had gone to sleep. While the team hopes that the rover's solar panels will be able to work again in mid-to-late February, it is unclear whether the Slim will be able to "wake up" because it was not designed with the harsh conditions of the lunar surface in mind.
The SLIM probe successfully landed on the lunar surface with an error of less than 100 meters at 0:20 Tokyo time on January 20 (23:20 Beijing time on January 19). But the solar panels were not facing the sun when the probe landed, and the batteries were unable to generate electricity. In order to prevent permanent damage to the detector caused by over-discharge, the project team turned off the power of the detector through a ground command at 2:57 Tokyo time on the 20th (1:57 Beijing time on the 20th).
Since the direction of sunlight hitting the lunar surface is constantly changing, it is possible to hit the solar panels of the probe and recharge the batteries. The Slim project team said on Jan. 29 that the probe had established communication with the ground on the evening of the 28th and had restarted work, with staff believing that the battery had been recharged at that time. (ENDS).