The Japan Times - Japan 'Moon Sniper' lands but 'not generating power'

EUR -
AED 4.176518
AFN 80.863189
ALL 98.800597
AMD 441.94576
ANG 2.049361
AOA 1043.277529
ARS 1328.965009
AUD 1.776019
AWG 2.046757
AZN 1.933202
BAM 1.956888
BBD 2.294095
BDT 138.046766
BGN 1.956016
BHD 0.428597
BIF 3378.92639
BMD 1.137087
BND 1.493419
BOB 7.851366
BRL 6.476165
BSD 1.136192
BTN 96.991936
BWP 15.661365
BYN 3.718237
BYR 22286.911436
BZD 2.282289
CAD 1.576924
CDF 3271.399866
CHF 0.942054
CLF 0.027728
CLP 1064.02901
CNY 8.286753
CNH 8.296138
COP 4798.394774
CRC 575.107165
CUC 1.137087
CUP 30.132814
CVE 110.326351
CZK 24.93522
DJF 202.325393
DKK 7.465399
DOP 67.205895
DZD 150.537983
EGP 57.918451
ERN 17.05631
ETB 151.634788
FJD 2.56629
FKP 0.854011
GBP 0.854095
GEL 3.115603
GGP 0.854011
GHS 16.702288
GIP 0.854011
GMD 81.870541
GNF 9840.255679
GTQ 8.750866
GYD 237.712188
HKD 8.821063
HNL 29.455732
HRK 7.532031
HTG 148.352712
HUF 405.231733
IDR 19164.753932
ILS 4.1191
IMP 0.854011
INR 96.84442
IQD 1488.427694
IRR 47871.375438
ISK 145.297219
JEP 0.854011
JMD 179.81604
JOD 0.806311
JPY 163.290254
KES 146.968287
KGS 99.438015
KHR 4548.189196
KMF 491.793727
KPW 1023.378572
KRW 1637.744996
KWD 0.348733
KYD 0.946827
KZT 585.065347
LAK 24576.666736
LBP 101801.629308
LKR 340.479336
LRD 227.246368
LSL 21.442424
LTL 3.357524
LVL 0.687813
LYD 6.217239
MAD 10.539961
MDL 19.610215
MGA 5060.702921
MKD 61.501327
MMK 2387.470564
MNT 4062.786523
MOP 9.078048
MRU 45.19814
MUR 51.430761
MVR 17.522396
MWK 1970.152258
MXN 22.199699
MYR 4.969062
MZN 72.773701
NAD 21.442424
NGN 1831.085972
NIO 41.810309
NOK 11.852054
NPR 155.183884
NZD 1.906282
OMR 0.437787
PAB 1.136232
PEN 4.173321
PGK 4.636476
PHP 64.0578
PKR 319.718032
PLN 4.273416
PYG 9088.734397
QAR 4.141403
RON 4.97715
RSD 117.315237
RUB 93.851842
RWF 1609.759772
SAR 4.265646
SBD 9.499582
SCR 16.166033
SDG 682.823894
SEK 11.013561
SGD 1.493752
SHP 0.893572
SLE 25.808497
SLL 23844.134054
SOS 649.346816
SRD 41.93698
STD 23535.411716
SVC 9.941528
SYP 14784.244175
SZL 21.42197
THB 38.199884
TJS 12.021185
TMT 3.991176
TND 3.403993
TOP 2.663173
TRY 43.698942
TTD 7.718292
TWD 36.947381
TZS 3050.236793
UAH 47.51848
UGX 4165.316273
USD 1.137087
UYU 47.436379
UZS 14688.167882
VES 94.732928
VND 29547.213962
VUV 137.112047
WST 3.142885
XAF 656.307534
XAG 0.034574
XAU 0.000345
XCD 3.073035
XDR 0.816236
XOF 656.298871
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.697739
ZAR 21.23448
ZMK 10235.150613
ZMW 31.727527
ZWL 366.141653
  • GSK

    -0.0700

    37.43

    -0.19%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    22.46

    +0.04%

  • NGG

    -0.2200

    72.04

    -0.31%

  • RBGPF

    60.8800

    60.88

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    9.89

    -0.61%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    10.16

    +0.1%

  • BTI

    -0.4000

    42.05

    -0.95%

  • AZN

    0.0200

    69.57

    +0.03%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.33

    -0%

  • RELX

    0.3800

    53.55

    +0.71%

  • RIO

    -1.1300

    60.56

    -1.87%

  • BP

    0.1900

    29.19

    +0.65%

  • VOD

    0.0400

    9.35

    +0.43%

  • BCE

    -0.3600

    21.65

    -1.66%

  • JRI

    0.1400

    12.74

    +1.1%

  • BCC

    -0.5800

    95.51

    -0.61%

Japan 'Moon Sniper' lands but 'not generating power'
Japan 'Moon Sniper' lands but 'not generating power' / Photo: Handout - JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY (JAXA)/AFP/File

Japan 'Moon Sniper' lands but 'not generating power'

Japan on Saturday became only the fifth nation to achieve a soft Moon landing, but the craft's long-term fate was in doubt after space agency officials said its solar cells were not generating power.

Text size:

With the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), Japan followed the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India in landing on the lunar surface.

After initial uncertainty, space agency JAXA confirmed that the SLIM touched down on the Moon at 12:20 am Japanese time (1520 GMT Friday) and that "communication has been established".

JAXA official Hitoshi Kuninaka said that without the solar cells functioning, the craft would only have power for "several hours".

But he suggested that it was possible that once the angle of the sun changed, they may work again.

"It is unlikely that the solar battery has failed. It's possible that it is not facing in the originally planned direction," Kuninaka told a news conference.

"If the descent was not successful, it would have crashed at a very high speed. If that were the case, all functionality of the probe would be lost. But data is being sent to Earth," he said.

He added that for now, the focus was on using what power remained to send back to mission control all data that had been acquired during the landing.

This would include helping to determine whether the craft -- dubbed the "Moon Sniper" for its precision -- achieved the aim of landing within 100 metres (yards) of its intended landing spot.

Two probes however detached successfully, JAXA said -- one with a transmitter and another designed to trundle around the lunar surface beaming images back to Earth.

This shape-shifting mini-rover, slightly bigger than a tennis ball and inspired by how a turtle moves on a beach, was co-developed by the firm behind Transformer toys.

- Mantle pieces -

Japan's mission is one of a string of new projects launched in recent years on the back of renewed interest in Earth's natural satellite.

Success would restore high-tech Japan's reputation in space after two failed lunar missions and recent rocket failures, including explosions after take-off.

It would also echo the triumph of India's low-cost space programme in August, when it became the first to land an uncrewed craft near the Moon's largely unexplored south pole.

SLIM was meant to try to reach a crater where the Moon's mantle -- the usually deep inner layer beneath its crust -- is believed to be accessible.

"The rocks exposed here are crucial in the search for the origins of the Moon and the Earth," Tomokatsu Morota, associate professor at the University of Tokyo specialising in lunar and planetary exploration, told AFP before the landing.

This includes shedding light on the mystery of the Moon's possible water resources, which will also be key to building bases there one day as possible stopovers on the way to Mars.

"The possibility of lunar commercialisation depends on whether there is water at the poles," Morota said.

- Renewed interest -

More than 50 years after the first human Moon landing, many countries and private companies are attempting to make the trip anew.

But crash-landings, communication failures and other technical problems are rife.

This month, US private firm Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander began leaking fuel after takeoff, dooming its mission.

On Thursday, contact with the spaceship was lost over a remote area of the South Pacific after it likely burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on its return.

NASA has also postponed plans for crewed lunar missions under its Artemis programme.

Russia, China and other countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates are also trying their luck.

Previous Japanese lunar missions have failed twice -- one public and one private.

In 2022, the country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States' Artemis 1 mission.

In April, Japanese startup ispace tried in vain to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a "hard landing".

S.Ogawa--JT