A talk at the "Space Development and Utilization Subcommittee" meeting reported a little news on the #JAXA SLIM rovers, LEV-1 & LEV-2.
LEV-1 (bigger, ☂️-shaped 🤖 that can talk to Earth) sent radiowaves home for 107 mins, including transmitting data from LEV-2 (SORA-Q: ball transformer that needs LEV-1 to phone home).
This was the world's 1st lunar robot-to-robot communication, 1st direct communication from something so teeny tiny, and 1st amateur ratio station on the Moon (UHF transmitted 📻 ).
In a PLOT TWIST, the JAXA lunar lander, SLIM, has survived the lunar night (which is bloody cold and was expected to irrevocably freeze all circuits).
SLIM is a technology demonstration, designed to test tech for touching down with pinpoint (<100m) accurate at a target site. The mission achieved this in spades, with estimated accuracy of ~3-4m, although tipped due to the loss of one of the main engines.
SLIM carries 1 science instrument, which it's used but... I guess will now use some more!
@elizabethtasker almost like being there (except for the noise wall I guess 😉). At 2:03, that's a cool reflection of the passing rocket on the contrail, right?
Last year, the first flight of the H3 ended in a RUD. As a result, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission--due to launch on the H3 in 2024--was delayed to 2026. So cross... everything... for tomorrow 🚀
OK people! An update from the #JAXA#SLIM team about the spacecraft have been posted on twitter (with the secret hope that y'all hush long enough to get some decent data analysis done 😅 ).
@RolloTreadway I think this means that they're not completely sure recovery will happen even when the sunlight shines from the right direction, i.e. the "if" is for generating power, not sunlight direction. For example, I guess SLIM could be in shadow (like Philae) or there might be other issues.
@chgowiz yup- they weren’t able to re-establish connection (so far) which usually means a crash. I feel like India’s lander worked so well because it was basically like let’s assume a small crash- how can we ensure it will still work after that.
@chgowiz Hope I'm wrong, but that looked like a very rapid descent after the 5m hover and telemetry of below 0 ground level seems ominous. I really hoped Japan could land this one. #SLIM
@syneryder I was hoping as well. Moon is hard. The telemetry was all over the place, but that below 0m reading wasn't great... if it was scaled correctly, that looks like an error of ~25m or more... Thats a long drop.
SPOTTED! The exhibit Cité de l’espace in Toulouse of the grains from asteroid Ryugu that I delivered from #JAXA last summer! You can see one grain under the microscope, and closely examine the second inside the facility-to-facility transfer container (metal cylinder) that is also used for scientific transport.