A Message From Japan's SLIM

OK, that was harsh.  Sorry about that.  For those who have no idea what this is, see the IMDB listing.

The news today though is that Japan's SLIM ("Smart Lander for Investigating Moon") is pretty much acting the part of the guy being put on the cart of dead bodies.  It's "not dead, yet" and "I think I'll go for a walk!"

All we knew Friday was that something had gone very wrong in SLIM's landing, and the situation looked extremely bleak.  Maybe not as bad as the Peregrine lander that burned up on reentry and dropped ashes into the Pacific, but it sure seemed to be headed for an early end. 

That was all we knew until Monday morning (Jan. 21 in Japan time) when JAXA gave us an update.  The lander has not been declared dead, and the team is working toward a possible recovery.  

When SLIM's battery power dipped to 12% capacity on the lunar surface, the lander powered down intentionally "to avoid being unable to restart for a recovery operation due to over-discharge," team members explained early Monday via the mission's account on X.

"According to the telemetry data, SLIM's solar cells are facing west. So if sunlight begins to shine on the lunar surface from the west, there is a possibility of generating power, and we are preparing for recovery. #SLIM can operate with power only from the solar cells," the team said in a separate X post on Monday.

Back on Friday, before SLIM shut down, the lander successfully transmitted technical data and imagery collected during Friday's descent and landing back to JAXA.   

JAXA has promised more information in another update conference.   

We should learn much more at the end of the week, when SLIM's handlers plan to offer another status update and provide an overview of the data analyses that have been performed to date, team members said.