Japan's space agency restores communication with moon probe SLIM

Japan's space agency said on Monday that communication with its lunar probe SLIM, which had been dormant for nearly a month, has been reestablished.

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), it was believed that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) endured freezing temperatures of around minus 170 degrees Celsius and restarted power generation as sunlight illuminated its solar panels.

"Last night, a command was sent to SLIM and a response (was) received, confirming that the spacecraft has made it through the lunar night and maintained communication capabilities," JAXA said.

"Communication with SLIM was terminated after a short time, as it was still lunar midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was very high," it noted.

JAXA added that preparations were being made to resume operations when instrument temperatures have sufficiently cooled.

SLIM, dubbed the "moon sniper," landed on the moon on January 20, and was later confirmed to have achieved a pinpoint landing with an unprecedented precision of less than 100 meters from intended targets, as opposed to conventional landers that often have an accuracy of within several kilometers.

As its solar cells were not generating electricity, the lander, some 2.4 meters tall and weighing about 200 kilograms excluding fuel, was switched off on January 22 after working on backup batteries, but it restored power and started functioning on January 29.

The probe re-entered a dormant state on February 1 and suspended activities as it reached sunset, rendering solar power generation unavailable, and JAXA announced its plan for operational attempts again in mid-February when sunlight reaches solar panels, admitting the uncertainty whether SLIM, designed to withstand extremely cold conditions, will restart.

SLIM's touchdown has made Japan the world's fifth lunar landing country.