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Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission

Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission
By Kelly Ng BBC News
JAXA Render of Slim's orientation
JAXA
Jaxa produced this render of Slim to show the awkward landing orientation that pointed the solar cells away from the Sun

Japan’s Moon lander has resumed operations after being shut down for a week due to a power supply issue.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it re-established contact with the lander on Sunday, indicating that the glitch had been fixed.

Its solar cells are working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight, the agency said.

It could not generate power when it landed on 20 January as the solar cells pointed away from the Sun.

With the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) spacecraft, Japan became only the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union, China and India.

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