Japanese Space Agency, JAXAgot the past December 25 a long-awaited Christmas gift. After three months of travel the ship SLIM Mission He was already on the path of the Moon: his ultimate goal. Today, he finally took the next step, turning Japan in that fifth country to land on the moon.
Before the Japanese space agency, the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India managed to land. This is a complex task that requires many technological advances to achieve. But SLIM was equipped with everything necessary.
The descent began approximately 15:00 UTC (16:00 Spanish Peninsular time) and ended at 15:20 UTC. In the 20 minutes it lasted, SLIM put all its most advanced technologies into action. And the ship is equipped with an instrument that takes pictures in real time and compares them with cartography of the Moon, on which exact landing location. Thus, he was able to adjust his trajectory to touch the selenite surface in the right place. In addition, the landing on the Moon was smooth enough to not break the instruments, thanks to the laser, which allowed him to always calculate the distance of descent and land at the right moment, without harshness.
Next steps for the Japanese ship SLIM
If SLIM was so well equipped to land in the right place, it’s because it has no time to waste. The temperature difference on the Moon between day and night is enormous. When the moonlit night comes, you will be able to reach -130°С. This is too cold for SLIM tools, which are not designed for such temperatures. Therefore, you must complete all your work in two earthly weeks, during which the lunar day lasts.
If he had not landed in the right place, too much time would have been spent searching for him, and this was impossible. But what happens next?
It should be noted that SLIM has far surpassed its first milestone: placing Japan on the list of countries that managed to land on the Moon. He also achieved his second milestone: demonstrating that his research system was operational and capable of delivering spacecraft to very specific places, whether on the Moon or other objects. However, there is still a lot of work ahead.
Importance of landing site
The site chosen for SLIM’s landing, Scioli Crater, is made up of rocks from the lunar mantle. For this reason, the ship has instruments that can analyze sunlight reflected from rocks and thus calculates its composition.
On the other hand, SLIM carried two small robots that were released during the Moon landing. The first is LEV-1, a small rover weighing just over 2 kg that moves in small hops and is equipped with a thermometer and a radiation sensor. As for the second, called LEV-2, it is even smaller. It weighs only 250 grams and is spherical in shape, about 8 centimeters in diameter. Once on the moon, he took off his wheels and began rolling around in true BB-8 style. In its case, it is equipped with two cameras and can change its shape to move faster and run on the lunar surface. This way, you can photograph the entire area around the landing site in a short time. Both can send their data directly to Earth and will do so soon as they will be ready to go within 40 minutes and 2 hours respectively.
After this, SLIM will be left alone in the face of danger. Well, accompanied by what was left of the remaining missions that managed to land in this hostile place, intended only for a few countries in the world.
Source: Hiper Textual
