The Japanese moon lander, SLIM, will cease all lunar surface services shortly after contact attempts by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), now the fifth country to have successfully landed a lunar lander, have all failed.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has actually remained operational for longer than was expected after performing a pinpoint landing on the moon. Those cold lunar nights with temperatures lowering to 170 degrees Celsius did not initially interrupt the lander’s operations — however, for the past seven days, JAXA has not received any return communications from the lander and doubts the lander will respond at any time in the future.
SLIM managed to land on the moon on January 19, 2024, less than 100 meters from its target area, an admirable feat when considering that most landers land on the moon several kilometers away from their target location.
JAXA’s official X account reports, “We tried again on the night of the 27th, but there was no response from #SLIM. As the sun went down around SLIM on the night of the 27th, it became impossible to generate electricity, so unfortunately this month’s operation will end. Thank you very much for the overwhelming support you have shown us since our post the day before.”
There were two rovers carried to the moon aboard SLIM and they now operate autonomously on the moon. Named LEV-1 and LEV-2, they are known as the “hopping exploration rover” and “the world’s smallest and lightest rover,” respectively.
