Japan’s lunar craft regains power after upside-down landing

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Japan has resurrected a spacecraft that lost power shortly after making a historic lunar touchdown this month, allowing it to resume a mission that seeks to illuminate the origins and composition of the Moon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) confirmed on Monday that it had established communication with the spacecraft, which now rests on the lunar surface in what appears to be an upside-down position.

“Science observations were immediately started with the multi-band spectral camera,” Jaxa wrote on social media.

Japan became the fifth nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon this month, after the Soviet Union, US, China and more recently India, but the feat was undercut by a power problem that threatened to jeopardise the mission.

Jaxa had said the spacecraft, known as Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim), touched down on the lunar surface about 55m east of its targeted landing site — a successful demonstration of its precision-landing technology, which allows targets a landing zone of just 100m, compared with an area of tens of kilometres for previous lunar missions.

But the agency added that one of Slim’s two main engines was likely to have failed at an altitude of 50m, resulting in the spacecraft landing with its engines pointing upwards. The angle made it difficult for sunlight to reach its solar panels, and Slim was manually unpowered after it transmitted captured data and images to Earth.

Five days after Japan made a soft landing on the Moon’s near side, US space agency Nasa said its lunar reconnaissance orbiter spotted Slim near Theophilus crater while flying 80km above the Moon’s surface. 

An official at Jaxa said the change in the sunlight’s direction allowed the solar panels to be recharged, but it remains unclear how long the power will last. The original mission was only intended to last several days.

Using a multi-band spectral camera, the Slim was designed to analyse the composition of rocks on the lunar surface, which could offer vital clues about the composition and origins of the Moon.

The mission, which has been decades in development, followed a series of setbacks for Japan’s space exploration plans. In March last year, the country’s newest rocket, the H3, was issued a self-destruct order after an engine failure shortly after its launch.

An attempt by private exploration company ispace to achieve the world’s first commercial Moon landing failed in April.

Advances in Japan’s space technology have been closely followed by the US and other allies as they seek closer collaboration to compete against China. Experts said Slim’s “pinpoint landing” technology would be critical for future missions such as Nasa’s Artemis project.

The US space agency is aiming to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole. Craters in permanent shadow at the poles may hold large reservoirs of ice, offering huge potential for scientific discovery but also posing significant navigational issues for safe landing and operations.