Japan’s SLIM moon lander surprisingly survived a second lunar night

Most landers we send to the moon operate for a single lunar day – about two Earth weeks – before being overtaken and killed by the extreme cold of lunar night. But Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has now survived two nights on the moon and continues to send images back to Earth, an incredible feat.

SLIM is Japan’s first lunar lander, making it the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. When it touched down on 19 January, it was tilted, so the solar panels did not provide enough power to keep it running for more than a few hours. After nine days, the sun had moved through the sky enough toBut after just three Earth days, lunar night began. Nighttime temperatures on the moon drop down as low as -133°C , which can ruin spacecraft batteries and electronics.

This in itself was a surprise – the lander was not specifically designed to survive lunar night, and its original mission was meant to end when night fell. So when another night approached, it seemed this would be the end for SLIM.on X, with the caption: “We received a response from SLIM last night confirming that SLIM was successful in its second overnight.

Some spacecraft use radioactive elements to stay warm, but SLIM does not, making its survival particularly astonishing. “It is a major achievement, given that they are not using a radioisotope heater,” saysat Rutgers University in New Jersey. “The outcome is important and impressive given that this is a major design consideration for electronics surviving the lunar night.

Source: Tech Daily Report (techdailyreport.net)

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Japan’s SLIM moon lander survives a second brutal lunar nightAndrew Paul is Popular Science‘s staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
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