Japan’s space agency said on Monday that its lunar lander SLIM unexpectedly crashed on a freezing lunar night, more than a month after the spacecraft made a historic “pinpoint” touchdown on the moon’s surface. It announced on Monday that it had survived and re-established communications with Earth.
The Smart Lunar Survey Lander (SLIM) landed on the moon last month, making Japan the fifth country to set up a probe on the moon.
U.S.-based Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus followed suit last week as countries and companies race to reach the moon for resources and human habitability.
Shortly after landing just south of the moon’s equator and within 180 feet of its target, SLIM tipped over and ran out of power due to the wrong angle of its solar panels.
Power was restored to the solar panels after more than a week as the direction of the sunlight changed.
The operator, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, previously said the spacecraft was not designed to survive a lunar night.
